General and cardiac toxicity of doxorubicin-loaded gelatin nanoparticles

General and cardiac toxicity of doxorubicin loaded gelatin nanoparticles cross-linked by glutaraldheyde were investigated in healthy rats. The rats were treated with free doxorubicin (DXR), unloaded nanoparticles (UNp), physical mixture of doxorubicin and unloaded nanoparticles (DRX/UNp), and DXR-loaded nanoparticles (DXR-Np). Each group of animals received the same dose of DXR (3 mg/kg) via i.p. once a week. Both electrocardiogram (ECG) parameters and body weight were measured 24 h before each administration. Rats treated with UNp behaved as controls. DXR/UNp provoked the same toxic effects as free DXR. On the contrary, DXR-Np resulted more toxic since significant variations of both the body weight and the ECG parameters were observed during the first week of treatment. In addition, the rats treated with DXR-Np died between the 3rd and the 5th day after the 2nd administration. These results demonstrate that, in these experimental conditions, the couplage of DXR to nanoparticles enhanced the cardiotoxicity of the drug. Since DXR was linked to the protein matrix of nanoparticles via glutaraldehyde, the high toxicity of DXR-loaded nanoparticles could be due to the covalent binding of the drug to the carrier.