Abstract
Emesis is defined as a forceful emptying of contents of stomach and intestines due to stimulation of emesis centre. Nausea is defined as ‘unpleasant painless subjective feeling that one will imminently vomit’. Both are protective reflexes and can occur due to many causes like drugs, radiation therapy, gastrointestinal disorders, central nervous system disorders, psychiatric disorders, vestibular disorders, endocrinological and metabolic disorders. Antiemetics are drugs used in the treatment of nausea and vomiting. However, most of the drugs for emesis are not effective in preventing nausea. 5-HT3 antagonists (like ondansetron, granisetron, dolasetron, tropisetron, palonosetron), D2 dopamine receptor blockers (like prochlorperazine, metoclopramide, domperidone, trimethobenzamide), anticholinergics (like hyoscine/scopolamine), H1 antihistaminics (like promethazine, cinnarizine, cyclizine, meclizine, diphenhydramine, hydroxyzine, betahistine, doxylamine), neurokinin (NK1) receptor antagonists (like aprepitant, fosaprepitant, netupitant, rolapitant), cannabinoids (like dronabinol, nabilone) and adjuvant antiemetics (like glucocorticoids, benzodiazepines) are used as antiemetics.
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Anandabaskar, N. (2021). Antiemetics. In: Paul, A., Anandabaskar, N., Mathaiyan, J., Raj, G.M. (eds) Introduction to Basics of Pharmacology and Toxicology. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-6009-9_36
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-6009-9_36
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