Peculiarities of adriamycin cardiotoxicity in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR).

: The adriamycin (ARD) effects on the myocardium and the microcirculatory system (m.s.) of the heart and the skeletal muscle were studied enzyme histochemically and histomorphometrically. Normotensive Wistar rats (ADR-NWR) and SHR (ADR-SHR) were given 3 weekly intravenous injections of 1 mg ADR/kg b.wt. Controls were injected with saline. Besides the well-known ADR-induced single-cell degeneration observed in both strains, ADR-SHR have developed focal myocardial lesions (f.m.l.) to be characterized as ischemic alterations. Their number and size have distinctly increased as compared to saline-treated SHR. In the coronary m.s. the ADR applications were followed by signs of structural adaptation to chronic contractions, especially in ADR-SHR and within the f.m.l. The latter were considered to be decisively engendered by the pathological reactions of the m.s. In ADR-SHR possible the cardiotoxic ADR actions have aggravated these microvessel reactions and their consequences.