Chapter 30 – Cardiovascular System

This chapter gives an overview of the embryology of the heart and blood vasculature, a description of the commonly encountered spontaneous lesions seen in Wistar, Sprague-Dawley, and other rat strains observed in routine safety assessment studies (including carcinogenicity studies) and concludes with concise descriptions of classic examples of cardiotoxic compounds. There is a summary of useful biomarkers of cardiac toxicity in general use.