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Cardiac muscle damage associated with chronic administration of methamphetamine in rats
Author(s) -
Kukacka Jiri,
Vajtr David,
Santorova Pavlina,
Kotaska Karel,
Prusa Richard
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.21.6.a1133-a
Subject(s) - methamphetamine , cardiotoxicity , creatine kinase , medicine , troponin i , myoglobin , fibrosis , endocrinology , edema , myocyte , toxicity , chemistry , myocardial infarction , biochemistry
Cardiovascular complications associated with methamphetamine (MAP) abuse have increasingly been reported. However, chronic cardiotoxicity of methamphetamine is not experimentally well documented. In this study, MAP (5 mg/kg/day) was subcutaneously injected into 5‐week‐old male Wistar rats (n=6) for 30 days. Age‐and sex‐matched Wistar rats served as controls (n=6). Cardiotoxicity was evaluated by electron microscopy and analysis of biochemical markers of cardiac injury (creatine kinase–CK, myoglobin, interleukin‐6, and high senstitive cardiac troponin I–cTnI). The body and heart weights were lower in MAP group. There were no significant differences in relative right and left ventricles weights between control and MAP group. Electron microscopy revealed swelling and irregular mitochondrias with disrupted cristaes in MAP group. Lesions of the mitochondria were relatively mild. Injury of intracellular membrane system was also found. Spotty fibrosis were patchily distributed throughout the myocardium in most of rats. Concentration of IL‐6 was 63.8±19.9 pg/mL in MAP treated rats whereas all values in control rats were under detection limit (≤16 pg/mL). The administration of MAP resulted in a increase of cTnI levels (0.171±0.123 vs. 1.212±0.598 ng/mL). Compared to control animals, higher levels of CK (24.4±2.9 vs. 29.1±2.9 μkat/L) and myoglobin (16.1±1.2 vs. 20.1±2.0 μg/L) were observed in the MAP rats. These findings suggest that methamphetamine may have direct and indirect toxic effects on adult rat myocytes.