Gestational diabetes mellitus is a risk factor for abnormal heart development, but the molecular basis remains obscure. To further analyze this, the hyperglycemia rat and cell model were established in this study. The results showed that hyperglycemic rats gained significantly less weight during gestation than controls. The number of embryos per litter was significantly reduced in diabetic mothers compared to controls. Ventricular wall thickness was often decreased in the diabetic offspring and cardiomyocyte apoptosis participated in ventricular wall thinness. Our results also indicated that Cited2 expression decreased in the heart tissues of diabetic-exposed embryos comparing with the control. The vitro results showed that down-regulation of Cited2 was associated with high glucose-induced apoptosis in cardiomyocytes in vitro. Over-expression of Cited2 gene restrained the cardiomyocyte apoptosis induced by high glucose. Furthermore, Cited2 S192G mutation partly inhibited the capacity of Cited2 to suppress apoptosis induced by high glucose in cardiomyocytes. This showed the critical role of Cited2 in high glucose-induced cardiomyocytes apoptosis. Data from this study found the association of Cited2 down regulation with cardiomyocytes apoptosis and maternal diabetes-induced ventricular wall thinness genesis. (C) 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.