Strikingly, treatment with 1 mmol/kg LiCl daily or every other day significantly reduced the expression of both mRNA and protein levels of TGF-β1 in diabetic hearts compared to untreated T2DM rats (Figure 6A–C), suggesting a correlation between tau protein hyperphosphorylation and TGF-β1 activation in the hearts of T2DM rats. The gene discussed is TGFB1; the disease is type 2 diabetes mellitus.