In line with the observed hypertrophic changes, high glucose treatment significantly increased the expression of the cardiac hypertrophy markers ACTA1 (HG vs NG: about 6.0 fold, p < 0.01), FHL (HG vs NG: about 3.9 fold, p < 0.01) and MLC2A (HG vs NG: about 3.5 fold, p < 0.01) (Fig. 2D–F). Here, ACTA1 is linked to cardiac hypertrophy.