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    STUDIA BIOLOGIA - Issue no. 2 / 2000  
         
  Article:   HISTOLOGICAL AND ULTRASTRUCTURAL STUDIES OF THE RAT MYOCARDIUM AFTER A SINGLE THERAPEUTIC DOSE OF CARBOPLATIN ADMINISTERED INTRAVENOUSLY.

Authors:  CRISTINA PAŞCA, VIOREL MICLĂUŞ, CONSTANTIN CRĂCIUN, ERIKA KIS, VICTORIA-DOINA SANDU, VERONICA CRĂCIUN, IONEL PAPUC, CRISTIAN MUNTEANU.
 
       
         
  Abstract:  Carboplatin (Paraplatin) is an alkylating agent belonging to the family of platinum-containing products, widely used in the chemotherapy of many types of malignant diseases in humans. According to the previous studies concerning its toxicity, this anticancer drug has a significant myelotoxicity, nephrotoxicity and cardiotoxicity. Therefore, our investigations intended to evaluate the histological and ultrastructural modifications induced by a single therapeutic dose of Carboplatin (400 mg/m2 body surface) in the left ventricle of the rat myocardium. Light microscopy demonstrates that Carboplatin induces many and obvious modifications consisting of the appearance of a slight congestion, haemorrhage and a diffuse oedema which was not correlated with the presence of a cellular infiltration. At the level of many cardiac muscle fibres, some nuclear modifications appeared which consisted of hyperthrophy, the presence of an increased number of nucleoli, a peculiar arrangement of chromatin in groups. A few nuclei were round shaped and very intensely stained. In addition, an obvious congestion and many haemorrhages could be seen in the myocardium. The ultrastructural alterations induced by this cytostatic consisted of the appearance of an alteration of the vascular and sarcolemmal permeability, correlated with a modified flux of electrolytes and water, leading to cell swelling, disorganisation of the ultrastructure, especially at the periphery of the myocytes, lysis of the sarcolemma and myofibrils, breaking of the Z-lines, increasing of the interfibrillar spaces, swelling and degeneration of the mitochondria. Besides, it could be noticed a massive oedema between the myofibrils which determined the myocyte disorganisation. In the areas with an advanced lysis, an obvious collagenous proliferation could be seen. All these modifications, which already appeared 24 hours after the treatment, aggravated progressively, but after 11 days started decreasing; at the end of the experiment the granular myocardiosis correlated with myolysis microfocuses, congestion, oedema and haemorrhages had just a zonal character.  
         
     
         
         
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