Ventricular myocytes isolated from control rats were incubated 24 h in DMEM supplemented with either plasma obtained from non-diabetic animals; or plasma extracted from type 2 diabetic animals, with or without added TNFα (50 μM) and IL-1b (50 μg/mL) receptor blockers (Figure 6 and Table 1). Here, TNF is linked to type 2 diabetes mellitus.