Creatine treatment modulates protein oxidative damage on left ventricle during neoplastic cachexia developed by Walker-256 tumor-bearing rats

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of creatine treatment on modulating left ventricle weight and oxidative damage after 5 and 10 days of Walker-256 tumor implantation, in Wistar rats. The animals were divided into 6 groups: control (C), tumor-bearing (T – 8,0 x 107 cells in 0.3 mL PBS, i.m., on the right flank) and tumor-bearing treated with creatine (tumor implantation + creatine in drinking water – 8 g/L) for 5 and 10 days. The left ventricle weight increased 20% and 31% at 5th and 10th days respectively in T group when compared with C. TC group remained at the C level. Lipid peroxidation levels evaluated by chemiluminescence (CL), demonstrated to be increased in T groups and was not prevented by creatine treatment. Carbonylated proteins increased in both 5th and 10th day in T groups that was reversed by creatine treatment. In line of this, T group also showed decreased levels of advanced oxidized protein products in  both time-points. Creatine also reversed this decrease (TC group compared with T group). We concluded that creatine treatment prevent left ventricle hypertrophy in tumor-bearing rats by atenuating oxidative protein damage.