Medicinal plants (fruits, vegetables, medicinal herbs, etc.) are a source for a wide variety of natural products, such as phenols and flavonoids, which are very interesting for their antioxidant properties [
1]. In addition to their ability to act as an efficient free radical scavenger [
2], their natural origin represents an advantage of the consumer in contrast to synthetic ones, which their use is being restricted due to their carcinogenicity [
3]
. Yemen’s flora is very rich. Where previous researches and studies have found that approximately 2838 species of plants; 179 families and 1068 genera are existed in Yemen [
3,
4]. The most important families regarding the number of endemics are Malvaceae. Indeed, Malvaceae or mallow family is a large family of herbs, shrubs, and tree plants; containing over 200 genera comprising about 2300 species. It is a globally distributed family with the primary concentration of genera in tropical and subtropical regions [
5]. Medicinally it is used in cough, ulcers in the bladders, intestinal infections, colitis, tonsillitis, gastroenteritis, cholesterol and lipid-lowering, anti-hypertensive, antioxidant, analgesics, emollient, pectoral girdle and arteriosclerosis treatment. Additionally, the plants are also used externally as antidandruff, demulcent, softening of tumors [
6‐
12]. The leaves of
Malva verticillata are rich in various active constituents, particularly phenols, flavonoid (quercetin), saponin, alkaloid, resin, and tannin that possess antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects [
13]. Many studies deal with the protective effects of
Malva spp. Ko et al., 2018 found that
M. verticillata may become the promising antidiabetic agent. They isolated four phenolic compounds from the aerial part that recovered the size of pancreatic islets (PIs) from zebrafish larvae damaged by treatment with alloxan [
14]. Additionally, the outcomes of the Shim et al., [
15] study demonstrated that a water extract of
M. verticillata seeds inhibited osteoclastogenesis and bone resorption by suppressing the RANKL signaling pathway. Therefore, they suggest that
M. verticillata seeds may be used as a therapeutic candidate in complementary alternative medicine to treat bone diseases. Moreover, the protective effect of
Malva sylvestris other species of Malva was approved in the study conducted by Marouane et al., [
16]. They found that
Malva sylvestris improved renal damage induced by ammonium metavanadate poisoning in rats. Another study conducted in 2018 showed that the methanol extract of leaves of
Malva verticillata possessed considerable antinociceptive activity and can be used as a substitute for aspirin [
17].
Doxorubicin is an antibiotic of the anthracycline group, which was isolated from fungal cultures of
Streptomyces peucetius var. It has antitumor efficacy and used in combination with other agents for the treatment of sarcomas and a variety of carcinomas, including breast, ovary, endometrium, bladder, thyroid, and cancer of the lung, as well as for treatment of acute lymphocytic leukemia and lymphomas [
18].
The main adverse effect is cardiotoxicity, which limits the use of this medication, the exact cardiotoxic effect of doxorubicin is not fully understood. Different mechanisms and steps are involved and end finally with cardiomyocyte death [
19]. Until now the main mechanisms proposed by many researchers are oxidative stress, Ca + 2 hemostasis dysregulations, iron metabolism, sarcomeric structure alterations, gene expression modulation, and apoptosis [
20]. Dox. Induces intrinsic and extrinsic apoptosis by different mechanisms, one of the accepted pathways involves the production of ROS and oxidative mechanisms that are prevented by antioxidants [
19,
21]. Additionally, several studies indicated that Dox.-induced cardiotoxicity is related directly with its ability to modulate microRNAs, which in turn, have a role in all cardiac functions including conductance of electrical signals, heart muscle contraction, and growth [
22]. As mentioned in the previous studies that polyphenols and flavonoids exist in
Malva verticillata possesses antioxidants and suggest to exhibit conspicuous protective effects that may ameliorate adverse effects induced by some drugs. For this reason, the present study is designed to evaluate the possible cardioprotective effect of
Malva verticillata against doxorubicin-induced toxicity in rats.