Exercise Preconditioning Protects against Doxorubicin-Induced Cardiac Dysfunction.

The article presents the study which sought to examine the effects of exercise preconditioning on acute doxorubicin (DOX)-induced cardiotoxicity and determine whether any observed cardioprotection was associated with myosin heavy chain (MHC) isoform alterations. Researchers used male Sprague-Dawley rats in which they were trained on a motorized treadmill, had access to voluntary wheels, or remained sedentary for 10 week prior to being injected with either saline or DOX. Moreover, left ventricular function was analyzed in vivo using transthoraic echocardiography and ex vivo using the isolated working heart at 5 and 10 d after injection. Results showed that DOX treatment had promoted significant in vivo and ex vivo cardiac dysfunction at 5 and 10 d after injection in sedentary animal.