www.ijbcp.com International Journal of Basic & Clinical Pharmacology | May 2017 | Vol 6 | Issue 5 Page 1054 IJBCP International Journal of Basic & Clinical Pharmacology Print ISSN: 2319-2003 | Online ISSN: 2279-0780 Original Research Article Effect of metformin on ECG, HR and BP of rats administered with cardiotoxic agent doxorubicin Promise Madu Emeka*, Anas Al-Ahmed INTRODUCTION Cardiovascular complications in the use of drugs are some of adverse effects defying management solution, particularly for those agents whose benefit to risk ratio is on the border line. This worrying phenomenon, has led to the use of multiple regimen to mitigate the likely events of toxicity. Patients who are on certain medications used in the treatment of disease like cancer and psychotics illness do have the added complications of increased risk of cardiovascular complications. This could impair management and increase healthcare cost. 1 Evidence has shown increased mortality from these events like myocardial infarction, hypertension, stroke and ultimately heart failure. Changes in myocardial malfunctioning will reflect in BP alteration, HR and ECG changes, including ventricular dysfunctions. 2 Drugs like doxorubicin are known to precipitate cardiac malfunction even in therapeutic doses. Doxorubicin is an effective chemotherapeutic agent used in the treatment of many types of cancers. Reports from studies indicate that it causes cardiac toxicity and this adverse effect limits the use of the drug particularly in some patients’ categories. 3 Evidence show that the mechanism of doxorubicin toxicity is by reducing adenosine monophosphate activated protein kinase alpha (AMPKα) signalling in the heart. 4 The inhibition of this signalling pathway causes cellular energy deficits. 5 Metformin on the other hand is ABSTRACT Background: Cardiovascular complications during drug therapy is worrisome and has been known to increase morbidity and mortality. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of metformin on BP, HR, and ECG, after subacute administration of doxorubicin in rats. Methods: Laboratory acclimatised animals were divided into 4 experimental groups consisting of group I as the control, given 0.5ml normal saline. Group II, received 3mg/kg doxorubicin on alternate days, while group III was given 300mg/kg metformin. The last group of animals were treated with 300mg/kg metformin, 30 min later, the animals were injected doxorubicin ip. The treatment lasted for 15 days thereafter, ECG, HR and BP were measured with anaesthesia. Results: Result showed that doxorubicin induced ECG changes in terms of increased PR and QT intervals significantly. Whereas, QRS and RR intervals were at same time significantly decreased. Metformin was observed to significantly attenuate these changes. In addition, metformin restored decreases in HR that was caused by doxorubicin in a significant fashion. However, metformin alone produced a decrease in HR compared with control. The observed reduced SBP and DBP produced by doxorubicin were also alleviated by the administration of metformin. There were increases in BP parameters measured in normotensive rats with metformin alone. Conclusions: In conclusion, metformin was found to attenuate doxorubicin- induced alteration in ECG pattern and restored the mechanical and physiological functions of the rat heart. Our data further suggests monitoring of CVS changes such as ECG particularly with drugs known to cause myocardial injury. Keywords: Blood pressure, Doxorubicin, ECG, Heart rate, Metformin, Rats DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18203/2319-2003.ijbcp20171656 Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Clinical Pharmacy, King Faisal University, Hofuf, Saudi Arabia Received: 03 March 2017 Accepted: 01 April 2017 *Correspondence to: Dr. Promise Madu Emeka, Email: pemeka@kfu.ewdu.sa Copyright: © the author(s), publisher and licensee Medip Academy. This is an open- access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non- Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non- commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.