Scutellaria baicalensis extract decreases cisplatin-induced pica in rats.
OBJECTIVE
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.
Aung
Han H
HH
Tang Center for Herbal Medicine Research, Department of Anesthesia & Critical Care, The Pritzker School of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA.
Dey
Lucy
L
Mehendale
Sangeeta
S
Xie
Jing-Tian
JT
Wu
Ji An
JA
Yuan
Chun-Su
CS
D000818:Animals; D000932:Antiemetics / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000633:toxicity*; D002945:Cisplatin / Q000633:toxicity*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D007274:Injections, Intraperitoneal; D007616:Kaolin; D008297:Male; D009325:Nausea / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000188:drug therapy; D010842:Pica / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000188:drug therapy*; D018517:Plant Roots / Q000737:chemistry; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D031364:Scutellaria baicalensis / Q000737:chemistry*
D000932:Antiemetics; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; D007616:Kaolin; D002945:Cisplatin