Adriamycin (ADR) is a commonly prescribed drug in cancer chemotherapy. One of its unfortunate side-effects is damage to cardiac muscle. In a study done by researchers in the Toxicology department at the University of Kentucky, mice were randomized to receive either ADR or placebo (a saline solution). This experiment was conducted on two groups of mice: regular (“wild-type”) mice and mice with a genetic mutation that makes them more susceptible to oxidative damage (“knock-down” mice). Thus, there are four groups of mice: WT-ADR, WT-Sal, KD-ADR, KD-Sal. The outcome in this experiment was concentration of the metabolite fumarate (a key intermediary in oxidative phosphorylation, a vital biochemical pathway in most multicellular organisms) in heart tissue.
Group: Experimental group (WT-ADR, WT-Sal, KD-ADR, KD-Sal)Fumarate: Concentration of fumarate, measured on the log scaleUnpublished data from the laboratory of Daret St. Clair, Graduate Center for Toxicology, University of Kentucky