Effects of erucic acid supplemented feeding on chronic doxorubucin toxicity in rats

One of the undesired complications of the chemotherapy with doxorubicin is cardiotoxicity. Cardiac effect of erucic acid, which is a member of omega-9 fatty acid, is investigated on doxorubicin treatment in this study. Forty-eight rats were divided into eight groups and each group contained six rats. First group rats were fed with milk. In the third and fifth groups we fed rats with milk supplemented 0.5% and 5% erucic acid respectively. The groups 2, 4, 6 were fed as the groups 1, 3, 5 respectively; we injected 2 mg/kg twice weekly intraperitoneal doxorubicin to these groups whereas we injected isovolumous normal saline to the groups 1, 3, 5. Two other groups (groups 7 and 8) were fed with standard pellet. Group 8 received 2 mg/kg doxorubicin twice weekly; group 7 received normal saline. After 4 weeks hearts were isolated and mounted on a Langendorff apparatus perfused by modified Tyrode solution. Surviving rats were significantly less in erucic acid + doxorubicin groups at the end of the treatment period (p<0.05). No significant difference was found between groups for malondialdehyde, catalase, cytochrome c oxidase and isolated heart measurements. Concomitant application of erucic acid and doxorubicin showed profound toxicity.