A Study on the adverse effects of the anticancer drug ,, adriamycin

In this study adriamycin (2.5 mg/kg. b.wt) was injected i.p once weekly for 6 successive weeks into 42 male rats. whereas, propolis (70 mg/kg. b.wt.) was given orally daily for 6 successive weeks into 6 rats. While a third group of 6 rats were given propoEffect on liver function parameters :The injection of adriamycin once weekly for successive 6 weeks afforded a significant increase in serum ALT activity after the 2nd and 3rd week, as well as a significant increase in serum AST activity after the first 3 week of drug administration when comwhereas serum ALP activity was significantly elevated after the 3rd week of treatment. On the other hand the administration of propolis alone or its combination with adriamycin induced non-significant changes in the activities of these enzymes except withThe LDH activity was markedly elevated after 1st and 4th week of treatment with adriamycin alone and also with its combination with propolis after 6 weeks when compared with normal control group.The CPK activity was markedy elevated in all treated group (those given adriamycin alone or its combination with propolis). whereas propolis when given alone elicited non-significant change when compared with control group and other treated groups.The serum total proteins and albumin of all treated group was significantly decreased along the course of the study except albumin in the group treated with proplis alone or its combination with adriamycin which showed non significant change compared withSerum globulins were also significantly decreased in all groups along the course of the study except with adriamycin after 4th week of treatment which showed a non-significant decrease compared with control group.On serum bilirubin, adriamycin afforded a significant decrease and increase in serum total bilirubin after 1st and 4th week of drug administration together with a marked elevation in response to its combination with propolis after 6 week of treatment. wheOn the other hand, indirect serum bilirubin showed a marked decrease after the first 3 weeks in response to administration of adriamycin alone and after 6 week of treatment with the combination of adriamycin with propolis.Effect on kidney function parameters :-Serum uric acid was slightly elevated in response to all treatment along the course of the study compared with control group.whereas serum urea and creatinine were significantly elevated along the course of the study with all treatments except with urea in the group given propolis alone and group given adriamycin alone after 2nd week which showed non-significant change.Effect on antioxidative enzymes :The catalase activity was markedly decreased along the course of the study with all treatments except with propolis alone which showed non-significant change compared with control group.The SOD activity was significantly decreased along the entire period of the experiment in response to all treatments except with propolis alone which revealed marked increase compared with control group.The malondialdehyde content was markedly elevated along the entire period of the study except with propolis alone which showed non-significant elevation when compared with normal contol group.