The lethal effects and determinants of microcystin-LR on heart: a mini review

Microcystin-leucine arginine (MC-LR) is the most common microcystin (MC) variant produced during cyanobacteria blooms. Chronic and acute exposure to MC-LR is known to cause many health effects on mammalian organs including the heart. Studies suggested that aside the liver, cardiogenic complications may also occur from MC-LR intoxication. Thus, this paper reviews the various effects of MC-LR on cardiac toxicity. In addition, the various techniques used to assess cardiac toxicity induced by MC-LR were elucidated. Based on the MC analysis, this paper concludes that there is the need for a standardized animal model approach to investigate both chronic and acute MC-LR exposure to build convincing evidence to support cardiotoxicity.