Cardiac troponin T as an indicator of reduced left ventricular contractility in experimental anthracycline-induced cardiomyopathy.
OBJECTIVE
Cardiac troponin T (cTnT) plasma concentration is considered a useful marker of anthracycline-induced cardiomyopathy. In this study we used daunorubicin-treated Chinchilla rabbits as a model to investigate the relationship between left ventricular contractility and cTnT plasma concentrations.


METHODS
Two groups of animals were used: a control group (n=8) received i.v. saline, and an experimental group (n=11) received daunorubicin (3 mg/kg, i.v.). The substances were administered once weekly for 10 weeks, and 5-7 days after the last administration, left ventricular cardiac contractility (dP/dtmax) was invasively measured as a contractility index and blood was sampled for cTnT concentration determination (Elecsys Troponin T STAT immunoassay).


RESULTS
Cardiac contractility was significantly lower in seven surviving daunorubicin-treated animals than in control animals (745.7+/-69.3 vs 1393.4+/-25.5 kPa/s; P<0.001), while cTnT plasma concentrations were significantly increased (medians 0.278 vs 0.000 ng/ml; P<0.001). When the dP/dtmax values of individual daunorubicin-treated animals were plotted against the corresponding cTnT plasma concentrations, a close negative linear correlation was found (R=-0.910; P<0.005; regression equation: dP/dtmax=-1861*cTnT+1234).


CONCLUSIONS
This study suggests that determination of cTnT plasma levels, which is simple and inexpensive, could be used in anthracycline-treated patients for left ventricular systolic function assessment and contractility estimation.
Simůnek
Tomás
T
Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmacy in Hradec Králové, Charles University in Prague, Heyrovského 1203, 500 05 Hradec Králové, Czech Republic. simunekt@faf.cuni.cz
Klimtová
Ivona
I
Adamcová
Michaela
M
Gersl
Vladimír
V
Hrdina
Radomír
R
Sterba
Martin
M
Kaplanová
Jana
J
Mazurová
Yvona
Y
D000818:Animals; D000903:Antibiotics, Antineoplastic / Q000633:toxicity*; D015415:Biomarkers; D009202:Cardiomyopathies / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000378:metabolism*; D002682:Chinchilla; D003630:Daunorubicin / Q000633:toxicity; D008297:Male; D009200:Myocardial Contraction / Q000187:drug effects; D009206:Myocardium / Q000378:metabolism*; D011817:Rabbits; D020107:Troponin T / Q000378:metabolism*; D018487:Ventricular Dysfunction, Left / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000378:metabolism*; D016277:Ventricular Function, Left / Q000187:drug effects
D000903:Antibiotics, Antineoplastic; D015415:Biomarkers; D020107:Troponin T; D003630:Daunorubicin