Blood viscosity as a sensitive indicator for paclitaxel induced oxidative stress in human whole blood.

In this study, the in vitro effects of paclitaxel (PTX) and Cremophor-EL (CrEL) on blood viscosity and oxidative stress markers were investigated. Whole-blood samples were collected from healthy volunteers and co-incubated with PTX, CrEL or their combination then compared with control blood samples. After a 24 h incubation time, the whole-blood viscosity (WBV), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), levels of whole-blood malondialdehyde (MDA), protein carbonyl content (PCC) and reduced glutathione (GSH) were determined. Moreover, plasma nitrite and plasma sialic acid (SA) values were measured. The present results revealed that the incubation of blood samples with PTX, CrEL or PTX plus CrEL significantly increased the values of WBV, ESR, MDA and PCC compared to control samples. In contrast, a significant decrease in levels of GSH, SA and nitrite was observed after incubation of blood samples with tested agents compared to control. The effects of tested agents on the measured parameters were more pronounced in the case of blood samples treated with PTX plus CrEL. The present study demonstrates that PTX-induced oxidative stress is associated with an increase of WBV.