Glucose transporters are essential for the heart to sustain its function. Due to its nature as a high energy-consuming organ, the heart needs to catabolize a huge quantity of metabolic substrates. For optimized energy production, the healthy heart constantly switches between various metabolites in accordance with substrate availability and hormonal status. This metabolic flexibility is essential for the maintenance of cardiac function. Glucose is part of the main substrates catabolized by the heart and its use is fine-tuned via complex molecular mechanisms that include the regulation of the glucose transporters GLUTs, mainly GLUT4 and GLUT1. Besides GLUTs, glucose can also be transported by cotransporters of the sodium-glucose cotransporter (SGLT) (SLC5 gene) family, in which SGLT1 and SMIT1 were shown to be expressed in the heart. This SGLT-mediated uptake does not seem to be directly linked to energy production but is rather associated with intracellular signalling triggering important processes such as the production of reactive oxygen species. Glucose transport is markedly affected in cardiac diseases such as cardiac hypertrophy, diabetic cardiomyopathy and heart failure. These alterations are not only fingerprints of these diseases but are involved in their onset and progression. The present review will depict the importance of glucose transport in healthy and diseased heart, as well as proposed therapies targeting glucose transporters.

葡萄糖转运蛋白对于心脏维持其功能至关重要。由于其作为高耗能器官的性质，心脏需要分解代谢大量的代谢底物。为了优化能量产生，健康的心脏会根据底物可用性和荷尔蒙状态不断地在各种代谢产物之间切换。这种代谢灵活性对于维持心脏功能至关重要。葡萄糖是心脏分解代谢的主要底物的一部分，它的使用通过复杂的分子机制进行了微调，其中包括调节葡萄糖转运蛋白GLUT（主要是GLUT4和GLUT1）。除了GLUT以外，葡萄糖还可以通过钠葡萄糖共转运蛋白（SGLT）（SLC5基因）家族的共转运蛋白转运，其中SGLT1和SMIT1在心脏中表达。SGLT介导的摄取似乎并不直接与能量产生相关，而是与细胞内信号触发的重要过程相关，例如活性氧的产生。葡萄糖转运在心脏疾病如心脏肥大，糖尿病性心肌病和心力衰竭中受到显着影响。这些改变不仅是这些疾病的指纹，而且还涉及其发病和进展。本综述将描述健康和患病心脏中葡萄糖转运的重要性，以及针对葡萄糖转运蛋白的建议疗法。葡萄糖转运在心脏疾病如心脏肥大，糖尿病性心肌病和心力衰竭中受到显着影响。这些改变不仅是这些疾病的指纹，而且还涉及其发病和进展。本综述将描述健康和患病心脏中葡萄糖转运的重要性，以及针对葡萄糖转运蛋白的建议疗法。葡萄糖转运在心脏疾病如心脏肥大，糖尿病性心肌病和心力衰竭中受到显着影响。这些改变不仅是这些疾病的指纹，而且还涉及其发病和进展。本综述将描述健康和患病心脏中葡萄糖转运的重要性，以及针对葡萄糖转运蛋白的建议疗法。