Mesenchymal Stem Cells Reduce Left Ventricular Mass in Rats with Doxorubicin-Induced Cardiomyopathy

Doxorubicin is a drug that used by a majority in the treatment of carcinomas. The most obvious known side effect is cardiomyopathy. Many studies have been carried out to eliminate side effects of the doxorubicin, and stem cell studies have been added in recent years. In this study, it was aimed to investigate fetal-derived mesenchymal stem cells (F-MSCs) treatment of doxorubicininduced cardiomyopathy by morphological methods. A total of 24 rats which were divided into three separate groups (Control, sham, treatment), each consisting of 8 male rats were used. In sham and treatment group, Adriamycin was administered in a single dose by tail injection to perform cardiotoxicity. In the treatment group, F-MSCs were intra-peritoneally administrated. Then, rats were euthanized and their hearts were photographed at the level of papillary muscle. and thickness, diameters and surface area levels were measured. Left ventricular mass (LVM) and left ventricular mass index (LVMI) were calculated after measurement. The sham group, LVM and LVMI levels were found to significantly lower (p<0.05) than control and treatment group. In the one hand, LVMI levels of rats in treatment group was statistically similar (p>0.05) to control group. Similarly, LVM levels of control and treatment groups were close to each other while this level of sham group was lower. It has been shown that F-MSC administrations in rats with doxorubicin-induced cardiomyopathy have adverse effect on LVM and LVMI values. In addition, the intra-peritoneal MSC administrations may be an alternative to other injection routes such as intra-venous and intra-cardiac administrations.