Acute exposure to the chemotherapy cisplatin has a biphasic effect in cardiac contractility

Cancer and cardiovascular diseases are the main causes of death in Uruguay and developed countries. In clinical practice, there is often the need to administrate chemotherapy with cisplatin (CTP) to patients with cardiovascular comorbidities. The aim of this work is to characterize the possible detrimental effects in cardiac function by the acute exposition to CPT using isolated heart and cardiomyocytes from guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus). All the procedures regarding animal experimentation were performed following approved protocols by the university ethics committee. Isolated hearts were placed in a Langendorff system and perfused with Tyrode 1.8 mM Ca2+ as control medium, or with extracellularly added CPT (0–100 µM). Tension was recorded with a gauge force transducer attached to the papillary muscle and electrical responses were measured with Ag-AgCl electrodes placed in surface extremes near the papillary muscle. Cardiomyocytes were isolated by enzymatic methods. Data were obtained by patch clamp and confocal microscopy with Rhodamine and Fluo dyes sensitive to Ca2+ binding. Non-parametric t tests were used for data comparison. The best fit of Hill’s equation to dose–response curves was done using nonlinear regression methods. In isolated hearts, CPT showed a biphasic effect over the development of tension, increasing up to 5–10 µM to decrease at higher concentrations. In isolated cardiomyocytes, Ca2+ currents were stimulated and inhibited by CPT in a similar dose. Confocal microscopy showed an increment and a reduction of relative fluorescence of the calcium-sensitive dyes with CPT as well. Our results suggest that CPT may affect cardiac contraction and automatism upon acute exposure of the heart, presumably by blocking L-type (Cav1.2) calcium channels and interference with molecules involved in maintaining the homeostasis of intracellular Ca2+.