Protective effect of Vernonia amygdalina Delile against doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity

Doxorubicin has been used as an anticancer drug and has already indicated effective in the treatment of cancer. The incidence of cardiotoxicity due to doxorubicin was approximately 11%, resulting in the limited use of doxorubicin. Cardiac protection during doxorubicin therapy is needed because it can reduce the incidence of heart failure. Vernonia amygdalina (VA) is traditionally used by Indonesians as a traditional medicine and contains many secondary metabolites, including vernolide, vernodalol, vernoamygdalin, vernolepin, luteolin, luteolin 7-O-beta-glucoronoside and luteolin 7-O-glucoside. The pharmacological activity of VA has been widely studied, including its antimalarial, antidiabetic, anticancer, hepatoprotective, nephroprotective, and antioxidant activities. This research aimed to determine the antioxidant 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) scavenging activity, total phenol, total flavonoid, and cardioprotective effects of Vernonia Amygdalina. Negative control was only intraperitoneal injection of doxorubicin (20 mg/kgbw) on the eight day while quercetin (85 mg/kgbw) and ethanol extract of Vernonia amygdalina (EEVA) 100, 200, 400 mg/kgbw dose are orally administered for eight consecutive days. Both quercetin and EEVA groups were also injected with doxorubicin (20 mg/kgbw) on the same day. On the following day, rats were injected with ketamine HCL 75 mg/kgbw and were dissected for heart blood collected. The blood collected 3 ml from each rat was analyzed for biochemical parameters. The analyzed biochemical parameters were Aspartate transaminase (AST), Alanine transaminase (ALT), Ureum, Creatinine, Creatinine kinase-MB (CK-MB), Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), Troponin T, Brain natriuretic peptide (BNP), and antioxidant parameter Superoxide Dismutase (SOD). The result showed that EEVA antioxidant activity was 40.51 ± 4.89 μg/mL, total flavonoid was 3.79 ± 0.61 mg QE/g extract, and total phenol was 281.575 ± 1.069 mg GAE/g extract. Quercetin (85 mg/kgbw) and EEVA (400 mg/kgbw) reduce AST, ALT, Ureum, Creatinine, CK- MB, LDH, Troponin T, BNP significantly and increase rats’ SOD level compared with negative control. So that, this study explicates that EEVA potentials as cardioprotective agent against doxorubicin by reducing biochemical parameters.