Abstract

Background: Amitriptyline is an important cause of mortality due to its cardiovascular toxicity.

Aims: To investigate the changes in levels of cardiac S100b protein on amitriptyline-induced cardiotoxicity and also to examine the correlation between amitriptyline-induced cardiotoxic effects and cardiac S100b protein in an isolated rat heart model.

Study Design: Animal experimentation, isolated heart model.

Methods: After a stabilization period, isolated hearts were randomized to two groups (n=5 and n=7). In the control group, isolated hearts were subjected to an infusion of 5% dextrose for 60 minutes. In the amitriptyline group, 5.5×10-5 M amitriptyline was infused for 60 minutes to achieve amitriptyline toxicity. After the infusion period, heart tissues were removed for histological examination.

Results: In comparison to control treatment, amitriptyline infusion decreased left ventricular developed pressure (LVDP), dp/dtmax and heart rate (HR) and significantly prolonged QRS duration (p<0.05). The semiquantitative scores for S100b protein levels in amitriptyline-infused hearts were higher than in the control group (p<0.01). At the end of the experiment, in the amitriptyline-infused group, significant correlations were found between LVDP and S100b protein scores (r=-0.807, p=0.003) and between QRS duration and S100b protein scores (r=0.859, p=0.001).

Conclusion: Our results indicate that the S100b protein may be a helpful indicator or biomarker in studying the cardiotoxic effects of amitriptyline.