tropisetron and Anorexia

A new questionnaire on QOL of patients with chemotherapy-induced emesis and vomiting was developed, and its reliability and validity were investigated in the present multi-center clinical trial. The questionnaire consisted of 15 items which included descriptive questions on appetite, feeling, sleep, mental fatigue, anxiety, pain, sputum, respiratory distress, nausea, vomiting, abdominal condition, daily life in a hospital and relationship with family, a linear analogue scale representing influence of nausea and vomiting on patient's life during 24 hours, and a face scale as the global scale. Data from 98 patients with cancer were analyzed by principal component analysis and correlation analysis. The results were summarized as follows: 1) Recollect rate was 78.1% and complete response rate was 86.0% in this QOL measurement. 2) A clear correlation was observed between appetite, feeling, nausea, vomiting and the physiological scale, between sleep, mental fatigue, anxiety, pain, abdominal condition and the psychological scale, between sputum, respiratory distress and the respiratory condition related scale, between daily life in hospital and the active scale, between relationship with family and the social relation scale. These results satisfied internal consistency. 3) As for test-retest reliability, the total score of 13 descriptive items between the day before and two days before the start of chemotherapy showed no significant difference. 4) The 13 items were grouped into physiological, the psychological, the respiratory condition related, the active and the social relation scales, and these scales belonged to a different dimension. 5) The linear analogue scale, the face scale and the total scores of 13 descriptive items correlated respectively with all of items except item of, relationship with family. 6) As for concurrent validity, vomiting frequency, severity of nausea and anorexia correlated with the physiological scale. Severity of nausea and anorexia also correlated with the psychological and active scales. 7) As a result of investigation of sensitivity, the total score of the 13 descriptive items, the linear analogue scale representing influence of nausea and vomiting on patient's life during 24 hours and the face scale revealed the poorest levels 2-3 days after chemotherapy but recovered thereafter. The aggravation of QOL of patients treated with chemotherapy was reduced in the anti-emetic administration group compared with the placebo administrati

Topics: Aged; Anorexia; Antiemetics; Antineoplastic Agents; Double-Blind Method; Female; Humans; Indoles; Japan; Male; Middle Aged; Nausea; Quality of Life; Reproducibility of Results; Sensitivity and Specificity; Surveys and Questionnaires; Tropisetron; Vomiting

Both total subdiaphragmatic vagotomy (TVAGX) and serotonin(3) receptor blockade with tropisetron or ondansetron attenuate amino acid-imbalanced diet (Imb) anorexia. Total vagotomy is less effective than tropisetron in reducing Imb-induced anorexia and also blunts the tropisetron effect. With the use of electrocautery at the subdiaphragmatic level of the vagus, we severed the ventral and dorsal trunks as well as the hepatic, ventral gastric, dorsal gastric, celiac, and accessory celiac branches separately or in combination to determine which vagal branches or associated structures may be involved in these responses. Rats were prefed a low-protein diet. On the first experimental day, tropisetron or saline was given intraperitoneally 1 h before presentation of Imb. Cuts including the ventral branch, i.e., TVAGX, ventral vagotomy (above the hepatic branch), and hepatic + gastric vagotomies (but not hepatic branch cuts alone) caused the highest (P < 0.05) Imb intake on day 1 with or without tropisetron. The responses to tropisetron were not affected significantly. On days 2-8, groups having vagotomies that included the hepatic branch recovered faster than sham-treated animals. Because the hepatic and gastric branches together account for most of the vagal innervation to the proximal duodenum, this area may be important in the initial responses, whereas structures served by the hepatic branch alone apparently act in the later adaptation to Imb.

Topics: Adaptation, Physiological; Amino Acids; Animals; Anorexia; Body Weight; Diaphragm; Diet; Duodenum; Eating; Indoles; Liver; Male; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Receptors, Serotonin; Receptors, Serotonin, 5-HT3; Serotonin Antagonists; Stomach; Tropisetron; Vagotomy; Vagus Nerve

Serotonin3 (5-HT3) receptors in the periphery mediate anorectic responses to the amino acid deficiency, which occurs after eating amino acid-imbalanced diets (IMB). However, other neurochemical systems, notably cholecystokinin (CCK), are known to affect food intake. We pretreated rats systemically with tropisetron, a 5-HT3 receptor antagonist, alone and combined with antagonists of CCK(A) and CCK(B) receptors, and measured intake of an IMB. Devazepide, a CCK(A) receptor antagonist, appeared to interact with tropisetron in the anorectic responses to IMB, blunting the usual remediation of IMB anorexia by tropisetron. The CCK(B) receptor antagonist, L-365, 260, increased intake of both IMB and an amino acid-balanced basal diet (BAS) and did not interact with tropisetron. Our data suggest that activation of CCK(A) receptors is interactive with 5-HT3 receptor activity in mediating IMB anorexia in the aminoprivic feeding model.

Topics: Amino Acids; Animals; Anorexia; Benzodiazepinones; Devazepide; Diet; Eating; Indoles; Male; Phenylurea Compounds; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Receptor, Cholecystokinin A; Receptors, Cholecystokinin; Receptors, Serotonin; Receptors, Serotonin, 5-HT3; Serotonin Antagonists; Tropisetron

The role of adrenal function in the anorectic response and adaptation of rats to a diet with an isoleucine (Ile) imbalance was investigated. In the first of four experiments, rats were fed a mildly Ile-imbalanced diet after treatment with metyrapone, and inhibitor of glucocorticoid synthesis. In two separate experiments, rats were presented with either a mildly or severely Ile-imbalanced diet (4.93 and 9.86% imbalanced amino acid mixture, respectively) after bilateral adrenalectomy. Finally, the effects of ICS 205-930, a serotonin-3 receptor antagonist, on the intake of mildly Ile-imbalanced diet were tested in adrenalectomized animals. In each experiment a 2 X 2 factorial design was used. Neither metyrapone nor adrenalectomy altered the initial depression in the intake of an imbalanced diet. The adaptation phase in the response of adrenalectomized rats fed a mildly Ile-imbalanced diet was not different from that of controls, but adrenalectomized rats fed severely Ile-imbalanced diets were unable to adapt. Adrenalectomy did not alter the anti-anoretic activity of ICS 205-930 in this model. These results suggest that adrenal hormones are not necessary for the initial anoretic response or adaptation of rats to an Ile-imbalanced diet, nor are they implicated in the anti-anorectic effect of serotonin-3 blockade.

Topics: Adaptation, Physiological; Adrenal Cortex Hormones; Adrenalectomy; Amino Acids; Animals; Anorexia; Diet; Eating; Indoles; Isoleucine; Male; Metyrapone; Rats; Rats, Inbred Strains; Serotonin Antagonists; Tropisetron