Abstract

DOXORUBICIN HYDROCHLORIDE INDUCES DEVELOPMENTAL DEFECTS IN CHICK EMBRYOS VIS-A-VIS AMELIORATIVE ROLE OF VITEX NEGUNDO LINN. ON BIOCHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS IN AMNIOTIC FLUID

Hitesh U. Shingadia*, Hardik Joshi and Meenakshi Vaidya

Abstract

The detrimental effect of Doxorubicin hydrochloride in the rat, mouse and recently in the chick model, concomitantly triggered interest among embryologists to understand the role that the drug plays in the developing embryos. The drug caused embryonic death, stunted growth and gross morphological malformations in developing chick embryos in the present study. The study demonstrates that doxorubicin is toxic and teratogenic during the stage of organogenesis in the developing chick embryos and significant alteration (P≤0.01); (P≤0.05) was observed in the biochemical constituents in the amniotic fluid, which radically reduced malformations, when pretreated with alcoholic leaf extract of Vitex negundo Linn. It was further observed that there is significant (P≤0.01) (P≤0.05) elevation in proteins, glucose, amylase and lipase in the amniotic fluid of 12 days old chick embryo in 48 hrs. of administration of doxorubicin, while levels of triglyceride, cholesterol and G6PD reduced. Protective action of the alcoholic leaf extract of Vitex negundo Linn. was significantly evident (P≤0.01); (P≤0.05) in the said model in all the parameters except triglyceride and the same was observed to be dose dependent in case of proteins, cholesterol, amylase and lipase, which may be due to the protective effect of herbal drug containing rich amount of phenolics and flavonoids augmenting the antioxidant effect.

Keywords: Doxorubicin hydrochloride, Teratogenicity, Chick embryos, Vitex negundo Linn.