EJMS

Abstract

Introduction: Adriamycin has been demonstrated to induce cardiotoxicity through the release of free radicals that lead to myocardial necrosis. Silymarin has an antioxidant effect that inhibits the free radicals which were shown to be the cause of cardiac tissue injury. Aim of work: to investigate the possible protective role of Silymarin on cardiac toxicity induced experimentally in adult male albino rats with Adriamycin treatment. Material & Methods: the present study was done on thirty six adult male Albino rats divided into 4 equal groups: group I (control group), group II (Silymarin treated group) received Silymarin at a dose (200 mg/kg body weight) orally daily for 6 weeks by gavage, group IIІ (Adriamycin treated group) received Adriamycin (2 mg/kg body weight, intraperitoneally) once per week for 6 weeks and group VI (Silymarin and Adriamycin treated group) received Silymarin at a dose (200 mg/kg body weight) orally daily for 6 weeks by gavage and in addition received Adriamycin (2 mg/kg body weight, intraperitoneally) once per week for 6 weeks. The animals were sacrificed at the end of the experiment, blood samples were collected for biochemical investigations and the left ventricles were excised and prepared for histological and ultrastructural study. Results: Administration of Silymarin with Adriamycin significantly prevented Adriamycin-induced elevation of serum cardiac marker enzymes; Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), creatine kinase (CK) and its myocardial isoenzyme (CK-MB). Light and electron microscopic findings of the heart treated with Silymarin with Adriamycin showed a well preserved normal histology of cardiac muscle with mild changes of cardiomyocytes when compared to Adriamycin-treated rats. Conclusion: Silymarin was suggested to protect the cardiomyocytes against the cardiotoxic effect of Adriamycin in adult male albino rats through its antioxidant effects.