Means of evaluation and protection from doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity and hepatotoxicity in rats

OBJECTIVES: This work is aimed on the study of doxorubicin cardiotoxicity and hepatotoxicity in rats and the evaluation of protective effect of trimetazidine administrated concomitantly with doxorubicin for 3 days. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Male Wistar rats used were subjected to different types of treatment (3 days); A: Control, B: Doxorubicin treatment and C: Trimetazidine and doxorubicin treatment. After sacrifice, tissular distribution of doxorubicin, cardiac scintigraphy, histological examination of the myocardium, and evaluation of liver function were assessed. RESULTS: Obtained results show that doxorubicin has a high affinity to tissues especially the heart. It causes hepatotoxicity and cardiotoxicity marked by a significant increase of aspartate aminotransaminase (AST) and alanine aminotransaminase (ALT) levels and drop of the left ventricular ejection fraction (EF LV ) by scintigraphy. Histological examination showed general alteration of myocardium structure. Concomitant administration of trimetazidine attenuates significantly the cardiotoxicity and hepatotoxity induced by doxorubicin. CONCLUSION: We have evaluated the protective effect of trimetazidine on an animal model of doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity and hepatotoxicity. The evaluation of these effects were assessed by several means; tissular distribution of doxorubicin, histological examination, assessment of liver function, and EF LV by scintigraphy that characterizes the originality of this study.