OBJECTIVETo study the effects of Panax notoginseng saponins (PNS) on acute doxorubicin-induced myocardial injury in mice and the anti-tumor efficiency of doxorubicin.

METHODMice were given a dose of 15 mg x kg(-1) doxorubicin ip alone or in combination with 25, 50, 100 mg x kg(-1) PNS ig, 5 days before doxorubicin administration and following 3 days. Cardiotoxic effects were measured by serum levels of dehydrogenase (LDH), creatine kinase (CK) and creatine kinase isoenzyme (CK-MB) and activities of antioxidant enzymes in heart tissue. In vitro experiments were performed using embryonic rat heart cell H9C2 to assess the protective effect of PNS (6.25-100 mg x L(-1)) against doxorubicin on cell viability. Anti-tumor efficiency of doxorubicin was evaluated by cytotoxic experiments using three cancer cell lines.

RESULTPretreatment with PNS significantly lowered the levels of serum LDH, CK and CK-MB, and normalized myocardial superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase and catalase activities. PNS also attenuated the inhibitory effect of doxorubicin on the viability of H9C2 cells, but did not compromise its inhibitory effect on proliferation of cancer cells.

CONCLUSIONPNS was demonstrated to attenuate doxorubicin-induced myocardial damage without compromising its anti-tumor activity.