Scutellaria baicalensis extract decreases cisplatin-induced pica in rats.

Abstract

PURPOSE:

Nausea/vomiting are significant side effects associated with the use of chemotherapy in cancer patients. Treatment of nausea/vomiting caused by cisplatin, a potent chemotherapeutic agent and one of the most emetogenic stimuli, requires a combination of different antiemetic drugs. In this study, we investigated the effects of Scutellaria baicalensis, an antioxidant herbal medicine, on cisplatin-induced nausea using a rat model.

METHODS:

Rats react to emetic/nausea-producing stimuli, such as cisplatin, with altered feeding habits, manifested by pica or increased consumption of kaolin (a type of clay). We measured pica in rats to quantify cisplatin-induced nausea, and to evaluate the antinausea effect of pretreatment with S. baicalensis extract (SbE) given intraperitoneally.

RESULTS:

Cisplatin at 3 mg/kg induced significant pica accompanied by reduced food intake, suggesting the presence of nausea. Hence, this cisplatin dose was selected for testing the antinausea activity of SbE. Cisplatin-induced pica decreased significantly when animals were pretreated with SbE at doses of 1 mg/kg and 3 mg/kg ( P<0.01). At a higher SbE dose (10 mg/kg), kaolin consumption increased, rather than further decreased, and was significantly different from that in the groups treated with low SbE doses.

CONCLUSIONS:

SbE pretreatment decreased cisplatin-induced kaolin intake in the rat model of simulated nausea, suggesting that SbE and its active constituent(s) may play a therapeutic role in chemotherapy-induced emesis. Absence of therapeutic effect at the highest tested SbE dose could have been a result of prooxidant activity often associated with excess antioxidant concentration.

• Authors: Han H Aung, Lucy Dey, Sangeeta Mehendale, Jing-Tian Xie, Ji An Wu, Chun-Su Yuan
• Journal: Cancer chemotherapy and pharmacology (Cancer Chemother Pharmacol) Vol. 52 Issue 6 Pg. 453-8 (Dec 2003) ISSN: 0344-5704 [Print] Germany
• PMID: 12942313 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.)

Chemical References

• Antiemetics
• Antineoplastic Agents
• Drugs, Chinese Herbal
• Kaolin
• Cisplatin

Topics

• Animals
• Antiemetics (therapeutic use)
• Antineoplastic Agents (toxicity)
• Cisplatin (toxicity)
• Disease Models, Animal
• Dose-Response Relationship, Drug
• Drugs, Chinese Herbal (administration & dosage, therapeutic use)
• Injections, Intraperitoneal
• Kaolin
• Male
• Nausea (chemically induced, drug therapy)
• Pica (chemically induced, drug therapy)
• Plant Roots (chemistry)
• Rats
• Rats, Wistar
• Scutellaria baicalensis (chemistry)