Xiao-Ban-Xia-Tang inhibits cisplatin-induced pica by down regulating obestatin in rats

Ethnopharmacological relevanceXiao-Ban-Xia-Tang (XBXT), a traditional Chinese herbal medicine, has been used in China for more than 2000 years, and proved to be effective in various cases of vomiting in the clinic.ObjectiveTo investigate the inhibitive effect of XBXT on cisplatin-induced pica behaviour and its effective mechanism on obestatin, CCK and CGRP in the pica model of rat.Materials and MethodsThe inhibitive effect of XBXT was investigated in the pica model of rats induced by cisplatin (3 mg kg−1, i.p.) in 72 h observation, the expression of obestatin in the area postrema and ileum was measured by immunohistochemistry and PCR, and the levels of CCK and CGRP in blood were measured by Elisa.ResultsThe weight of kaolin eaten in rats induced by cisplatin was significantly reduced by pretreatment with XBXT in a dose-dependent manner during the 0–24 h and 24–72 h periods (P < 0.05). XBXT exhibited effective dose-dependent (P < 0.05) inhibition on the increase of expression levels of obestatin in both the ileum and area postrema, and markedly suppressed the increase levels of CCK and CGRP in blood induced by cisplatin in a dose-dependent manner (P < 0.05).ConclusionsXBXT has good activity against cisplatin-induced eating kaolin in rats possibly by inhibiting central or peripheral increase of obestatin, or the levels of CCK and CGRP in blood.

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