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Scutellaria baicalensis extract decreases cisplatin-induced pica in rats

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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.

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Acknowledgement

The authors would like to thank Spring A. Maleckar for her technical assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tang Center for Herbal Medicine Research, Department of Anesthesia & Critical Care, The Pritzker School of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA

    Han H. Aung, Lucy Dey, Sangeeta Mehendale, Jing-Tian Xie, Ji An Wu & Chun-Su Yuan

  2. Committee on Clinical Pharmacology and Pharmacogenomics, The Pritzker School of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA

    Chun-Su Yuan

  3. Department of Anesthesia & Critical Care, The University of Chicago, 5841 S. Maryland Ave., MC 4028, Chicago, IL 60637, USA

    Chun-Su Yuan

Authors
  1. Han H. Aung
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  2. Lucy Dey
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  3. Sangeeta Mehendale
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  4. Jing-Tian Xie
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  5. Ji An Wu
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  6. Chun-Su Yuan
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Chun-Su Yuan.

Additional information

This work was supported in part by NIH grants R01 CA79042, P30 CA14599, and R21 AT00381.

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Aung, H.H., Dey, L., Mehendale, S. et al. Scutellaria baicalensis extract decreases cisplatin-induced pica in rats. Cancer Chemother Pharmacol 52, 453–458 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00280-003-0694-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00280-003-0694-9

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