Neuropharmacology Laboratory, Department of Pharmacology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi 110 029, India.
Environ Toxicol Pharmacol. 1997 Jun 6;3(2):145-9. doi: 10.1016/s1382-6689(97)00151-8.
Pica, eating of non-nutritive substances such as kaolin in rats has been suggested as an illness response behaviour, analogous to vomiting in species that have developed emetic reflex. We have recently demonstrated that antioxidants-glutathione, N-(2- mercaptopropionyl)glycine (tiopronin), vitamin C and vitamin E-exert antiemetic effect against cisplatin-induced emesis in dogs. In the present study, the effect of these antioxidants was investigated against pica model in rats. Pretreatment with these agents significantly inhibited the cisplatin induced enhanced kaolin intake. However, these agents failed to exert any significant improvement in the decreased food intake by cisplatin. The findings confirm the potential of these antioxidants as antiemetics against cancer chemotherapy induced vomiting, though they may not improve the anorexia. The experiments further support that pica in rats can be used as a good alternative rodent model to dogs and cats particularly for preliminary and rapid screening of antiemetic agents.
食异物癖，即大鼠摄食高岭土等非营养性物质，被认为是一种疾病反应行为，类似于具有呕吐反射的物种发生的呕吐。我们最近的研究表明，抗氧化剂——谷胱甘肽、N-（2-巯基丙酰基）甘氨酸（tiopronin）、维生素 C 和维生素 E——对顺铂诱导的犬呕吐具有止吐作用。在本研究中，研究了这些抗氧化剂对大鼠食异物癖模型的作用。这些药物的预处理显著抑制了顺铂诱导的高岭土摄入增加。然而，这些药物并不能显著改善顺铂引起的食物摄入量减少。这些发现证实了这些抗氧化剂作为止吐剂对抗癌症化疗引起的呕吐的潜力，尽管它们可能不会改善厌食症。实验进一步支持大鼠的食异物癖可作为狗和猫的良好替代啮齿动物模型，特别是用于止吐剂的初步和快速筛选。
