Abstract
The clinical application of doxorubicin (DOX) is compromised by its cardiac toxic effect. Cyclovirobuxine D (CVB-D) is a steroid alkaloid extracted from a traditional Chinese medicine, Buxus microphylla. Our results showed that CVB-D pretreatment markedly attenuated DOX-induced cardiac contractile dysfunction and histological alterations. By using TUNEL assay and western blot analysis, we found that CVB-D pretreatment reduced DOX-induced apoptosis of myocardial cells and mitochondrial cytochrome c release to cytosol. CVB-D pretreatment ameliorated DOX-induced cardiac oxidative damage including lipid peroxidation and protein carbonylation and a decrease in the ratio of reduced glutathione (GSH) to oxidized glutathione (GSSG). Moreover, CVB-D was found to prevent DOX-induced mitochondrial biogenesis impairment as evidenced by preservation of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ coactivator-1α (PGC-1α) and nuclear respiratory factor 1 (NRF1), as well as mitochondrial DNA copy number. These findings demonstrate that CVB-D protects against DOX-induced cardiomyopathy, at least in part, by suppression of oxidative damage and mitochondrial biogenesis impairment.