Action of Bacopa monnieri to antagonize cisplatin-induced emesis in Suncus murinus (house musk shrew)

Abstract

Bacopa monnieri (BM, family Scrophulariaceae) is used in several traditional systems of medicine for the management of epilepsy, depression, neuropathic pain, sleep disorders and memory deficits. The present study investigated the potential of BM methanol (BM-MetFr) and BM n-butanol fractions (BM-ButFr) to reduce chemotherapy-induced emesis in Suncus murinus (house musk shrew). Cisplatin (30 mg/kg, i.p.) reliably induced retching and/or vomiting over a 2 day period. BM-MetFr (10–40 mg/kg, s.c.) and BM-ButFr (5–20 mg/kg, s.c.) antagonized the retching and/or vomiting response by ∼59.4% (p 0.05). In conclusion, the n-butanol fractions of BM have anti-emetic activity comparable with palonosetron and MPG. BM may be useful alone or in combination with other anti-emetic drugs for the treatment of chemotherapy-induced emesis in man.

Keywords

• Anti-emetic
• Bacopa monnieri
• Cisplatin
• Emesis
• Suncus murinus