On Wed, 13 Feb 2002 16:02:05 -0600 Jim Dougan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Years ago, I heard - somewhere - that rats cannot vomit or burp (this part > I am pretty sure is true). Jim: My understanding is in line with yours about the rats ability to vomit to void its stomach. Of course, there is always the issue of analogous vs homologous behaviors to muddy the issue. Perhaps the rats would go after something to absorb the gas. Ken ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1: Pharmacol Biochem Behav 1993 Aug;45(4):817-21 Pica in rats is analogous to emesis: an animal model in emesis research. Takeda N, Hasegawa S, Morita M, Matsunaga T. Department of Otolaryngology, Osaka University Medical School, Japan. Mitchell et al. (1976, 1977) suggested that pica, eating of nonnutritive substances such as kaolin, is an illness-response behavior in rats. In the present study, we first confirmed their suggestion and then examined the effects of antiemetics on emetic-induced pica in rats. Intraperitoneal injection of apomorphine induced dose-dependent kaolin consumption. Pretreatment with domperidone inhibited apomorphine-induced kaolin intake. Oral administration of copper sulfate and intraperitoneal injection of cisplatin also induced dose-dependent kaolin consumption. Pretreatment with ondansetron inhibited cisplatin-induced kaolin intake. These findings suggest that pica in rats was induced through 1) dopamine D2 receptors in the chemoreceptor trigger zone, and 2) the stomach, partly via 5-HT3 receptors in the visceral afferents in the stomach wall. The present findings support the conclusion that pica in rats is analogous to vomiting in other species and suggest that pica in rats is mediated by the same mechanisms as vomiting in humans. Accordingly, we extended the utility of the animal model to pharmacological research of emesis with pica as an analogue to emesis. PMID: 8415820 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ---------------------- Kenneth M. Steele, Ph.D. [EMAIL PROTECTED] Dept. of Psychology Appalachian State University Boone, NC 28608 USA --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
