Effect of polyethylene glycol 400 on adriamycin induced histamine release.

The activity of polyethylene glycol 400, a widely used drug solvent, was tested on the release of histamine induced by adriamycin in vitro on peritoneal rat mast cells and in vivo in a mouse model. Preincubation of mast cells with high (10 and 5%) concentrations of polyethylene glycol 400 significantly inhibited the important histamine release induced by 100 micrograms/ml of adriamycin; furthermore, polyethylene glycol 400 (3.45 g/kg; 0.345 g/ml) pretreatment almost completely abolished the peritoneal and pericardial mast cell degranulation and the cardiac toxicity caused by an intraperitoneal injection of 15 mg/kg of adriamycin. This effect of polyethylene glycol 400 on adriamycin-induced histamine release could explain the protective action exhibited in vivo on adriamycin treated animals, therefore confirming that adriamycin cardiotoxicity could be related to the release of histamine and other vasoactive substances.