Correlation of histopathological and biochemical appraisal of anthracyclin-induced myocardium damage

Treatment of various tumor types with anthracycl in cytostatic drugs (DNR--daunorubicin and DOX--doxorubicin) is limited by their high cardiotoxicity. This study was aimed at examining effectiveness of histopathological appraisal of myocardial cell injury induced by the cytostatic drugs and evaluated according to Billingham and by MTS methods as compared to results of parallel biochemical assessment of lipid peroxidation indices (MDA- malonyldialdehyde, 4-HDA-4-hydroxyalkenes). The experiments were performed on rats intoxicated with DNR or DOX in an acute manner (1 x 10 mg/kg body weight, i.v.) or a subchronic manner (3 x 3 mg/kg body weight. i.v.). Significant positive correlations were demonstrated between results of histological and biochemical appraisal in rats intoxicated in the acute manner with DNR (r=(0.91), intoxicated in the subchronic manner with DNR (r=0.90) and in rats intoxicated in the acute or subchronic manner with DOX (r=0.91, r=0.77, respectively). The obtained results have confirmed the free radical mechanism of cardiomyocyte injury induced by anthracyclines and the applied techniques of evaluating the destruction may be used independently of each other.