Involvement of Hypothalamic Glutamate in Cisplatin-Induced Emesis in Suncus murinus (House Musk Shrew)

We investigated the effect of cisplatin on glutamate release in the hypothalamus of Suncus murinus measured by brain microdialysis. Dialysis samples were collected every 20 min for 1 h before and 3 h after the cisplatin (30 mg/kg, i.p.) administration with the animals also being observed for the development of emesis. Cisplatin increased glutamate levels within 1 h and this was closely associated with the occurrence of emesis. Pretreatment with the 5-HT3– receptor antagonist ondansetron (2 mg/kg, i.p.) inhibited both the emesis and the increased glutamate levels. These results suggest that hypothalamic glutamate is involved in cisplatin-induced emesis in Suncus murinus. Keywords:: glutamate, microdialysis, Suncus murinus