An assessment of cardiac histopathological changes in doxorubicin dose-dependent animal models

One effective anthracycline human chemotherapy drug thatis frequently used to treat solid and haematological cancers isdoxorubicin (DOX). The dose-dependent cardiotoxicity of somemedications can result in irreversible heart failure, limiting theirclinical utility. Understanding the pathophysiology and earlydetection of DOX-induced cardiac injury is made possible byanimal models, especially rats, using acute models of DOXcardiotoxicity due to less time-consuming operations. The aimof this research is to determine a potential cardiotoxic DOX dosein gender-specific Wistar wild-type rats using light microscopyfor evaluating morphological changes of the heart.Adult Wistar rats (n=10), including males (n=5) and females(n=5), were treated with doxorubicin intraperitoneal injection indifferent doses (25 mg/kg, 30 mg/kg and 40 mg/kg) per male ratand female rat, respectively. Rats were sacrificed after 48 hoursand 72 hours for the models of 25 mg/kg and 30 mg/kg, whilethe rats of the 40 mg/kg model group were sacrificed 24 hoursafter. The myocardium of the left ventricle is analysed using alight microscope under magnifications of ten and twenty times.Male Wistar rats developed more pronounced morphologicalchanges of the left ventricle compared to female Wistar rats,resulting in myocardial interstitial oedema and disorganisationof myocyte architecture.Male Wistar wild-type rats develop a more aggressive form ofacute cardiotoxicity caused by doxorubicin compared to femaleWistar wild-type rats.