Echocardiographic analyses of the LV function in 1- and 12-week-old offspring disclosed a significant decrease in fractional shortening (FS) in diabetes-exposed Hif1a+/− compared to diabetes-exposed Wt (P < 0.001), and unexposed Wt or Hif1a+/− controls (P < 0.0001) at 12 weeks of age (Fig. 2a–d, Additional file 2: Table S2). Here, HIF1A is linked to diabetes mellitus.