Importantly, the animals displayed key characteristics of ACM1, namely the HF phenotype with cardiomegaly and cardiac fibrosis leading to functional cardiac compromise including significant sinus bradycardia, reduced fractional shortening, a significantly reduced cardiac output and consecutive pulmonary congestion, all characteristics that have been described in the human disease phenotype, while these pathologic features were absent in control diet-fed ALDH-2−/− mice and C57BL/6 mice fed the ethanol diet (Fig. 1B–D, Fig. 6B–E). Here, ALDH2 is linked to fibrosis.