Protective Effects of Oroxylin A against Doxorubicin-Induced Cardiotoxicity via the Activation of Sirt1 in Mice

Doxorubicin- (DOX-) related cardiac injury impairs the life quality of patients with cancer. This largely limited the clinical use of DOX. It is of great significance to find a novel strategy to reduce DOX-related cardiac injury. Oroxylin A (OA) has been identified to exert beneficial effects against inflammatory diseases and cancers. Here, we investigated whether OA could attenuate DOX-induced acute cardiotoxicity in mice. A single dose of DOX was used to induce acute cardiac injury in mice. To explore the protective effects, OA was administered to mice for ten days beginning from five days before DOX injection. The data in our study indicated that OA inhibited DOX-induced heart weight loss, reduction in cardiac function, and the elevation in myocardial injury markers. DOX injection resulted in increased oxidative damage, inflammation accumulation, and myocardial apoptosis in vivo and in vitro, and these pathological alterations were alleviated by treatment of OA. OA activated the sirtuin 1 (Sirt1) signaling pathway via the cAMP/protein kinase A, and its protective effects were blocked by Sirt1 deficiency. OA treatment did not affect the tumor-killing action of DOX in tumor-bearing mice. In conclusion, OA protected against DOX-related acute cardiac injury via the regulation of Sirt1.