High levels of catecholamines are cardiotoxic and may trigger acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Similarly, the synthetic catecholamine isoprenaline (ISO) evokes a pathological state similar to AMI.
Rutin, a natural flavonoid glycoside possessing free radical scavenging and iron/copper chelating activity, may therefore be potentially useful in reduction of catecholamine cardiotoxicity. Male Wistar:Han rats received rutin (46 or 11.5mg/kg i.v.) alone or with necrogenic dose of ISO (100mg/kg s.c.).
Rutin in a dose of 46 mg/kg aggravated ISO-cardiotoxicity while the dose of 11mg/kg had no effect. These unexpected results were in agreement with in vitro experiments, where co-incubation with larger concentrations of rutin significantly augmented ISO cytotoxicity