potential effects of pomegranate on lipid peroxidation and pro‑inflammatory changes in daunorubicin‑induced cardiotoxicity in rats

background: daunorubicin‑induced acute cardiotoxicity caused by oxidative stress and free radical formation. pomegranate possessed a significant in vitro free radical scavenging activity. therefore, the aim of this study was estimations of the role of pomegranate effects in daunorubicin‑induced cardiotoxicity. methods: a total of 21 sprague male rats were allocated into three groups, seven animals in each group. group a: control group received distilled water. group b: treated group with daunorubicin 20 mg/kg via intraperitoneal injection daily for the 12th day for total cumulative dose of 240 mg/kg. group c: pretreatment group with pomegranate 25 mg/kg for 6 days orally, then daunorubicin 20 mg/kg administrated concomitantly for the next 6 days with a cumulative dose of 120 mg/kg. cardiac troponin i ([ctn i] pg/ml), malondialdehyde (mda) (ng/ml), interleukin 17 (il‑17 pg/ml), and cardiac lactate dehydrogenase (ldh) (pm/ml), all these biomarkers were used to measure the severity of cardiotoxicity. results: daunorubicin at a dose of 20 mg/kg lead to pronounced cardiac damage that reflected on through elevations of serum ctn and serum ldh levels significantly p < 0.01, it induced lipid peroxidation during cardiotoxicity that reflected through an elevation in the serum mda significantly p < 0.01, moreover, daunorubicin induces pro‑inflammatory changes in cardiotoxicity; it raises the il‑17 serum level significantly p < 0.01 as compared with control. pomegranate pretreatment demonstrated a significant cardioprotection from daunorubicin‑induced cardiotoxicity; it attenuated the cardiac damage through reduction of ctn, ldh, mda, and serum il‑17 level significantly p < 0.01 as compared with daunorubicin‑treated group. conclusions: pomegranate demonstrated significant cardioprotection in daunorubicin‑induced cardiotoxicity through reduction of oxidative stress, lipid peroxidation, pro‑inflammatory, and cardiac injury biomarkers.