TISSUE TOXICITY INDUCED BY DOXORUBICIN IN RATS: PROTECTIVE ROLE OF AEROBIC REGULAR EXERCISE

Doxorubicin (DOX) is an anthracycline antibiotic that is widely used as an
anticancer agent. However, the clinical use of DOX is limited due to its toxic side effects upon nontarget

tissues. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of 6 weeks of aerobic training on
dox-induced toxicity in rat tissues (heart and liver).
Materials & Methods: This study was conducted on thirty-two Wistar male rats randomly assigned to
1.control+salin, 2. control+DOX, 3. training+salin, 4) training+DOX groups. Groups 3 and 4 were
trained on treadmill between 25 to 54 min/day and 15 to 20 m/min, 5 days/week for 6 weeks. The
groups 2, 4 and groups 1, 3 received DOX (20 mg.kg
-1
i.p) and saline (0.9% NaCl i.p), respectively.
Animals were sacrificed 24 h after DOX and saline injections. Also, heart and liver tissue
homogenization and assay parameters were performed.
Results: Doxorubicin administration cause a significant increase in malondialdehyde (MDA), nitric
oxide (NO) and a significant decrease in the superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity in heart and liver
tissues; however, the difference was not significant between the two tissues. Although the 6-week
aerobic training+DOX caused a down-regulation of oxidant markers and up-regulation of the SOD
activity in heart and liver tissues, but only changes of the SOD activity was significant between the
heart and liver tissues.
Conclusion: Our study suggests that cardiac/liver protection induced by chronically exercise in DOX
treated rats is associated with inhibition of oxidative stress and increase in the antioxidant defense
levels.