Comparative cardiac and renal toxicity of daunorubicin in the rat and rabbit.

A direct comparison of the cardiac and extracardiac effects of repeated daunorubicin administration in the rat and rabbit demonstrated a basic similarity in the cardiac myocyte response. The rat, however, appears to develop a more severe drug-related nephropathy, resulting in widespread soft tissue mineralization that includes vessels and the myocardium. These findings suggest that the severity and development of acute and chronic anthracycline-induced cardiac lesions may, in the rat, be related or dependent, in part, on concomitant nephrotoxicity.