In vitro screening of antitumour agents for cardiotoxicity by means of isolated mouse left atria.

Cardiotoxicity, a side-effect that can occur after treatment with an anticancer drug, has severe clinical implications. Therefore, a model is desired to screen new anticancer drugs or drug combinations for possible cardiotoxic side-effects. In the present study we tested the applicability of the electrically stimulated isolated mouse left atrium model using a wide range of anticancer drugs with known cardiotoxicity. It appeared that the cardiotoxicity observed in our model, i.e. the negative or positive inotropic effects of the drugs on the isolated atrium, corresponded with the observed cardiotoxicity in animals and/or humans. It is therefore concluded that our model can be used to wam for possible cardiotoxic side-effects of anticancer drugs in vivo.