Role of autonomic nervous system for development and suppression of motion sickness in Suncus murinus

• Published in: Autonomic neuroscience Vol. 94; no. 1; pp. 46 - 51
• Main Authors: Uchino, Masahiro, Ishii, Keiji, Kuwahara, Masayoshi, Ebukuro, Susumu, Tsubone, Hirokazu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 10-12-2001; Elsevier
• Subjects: Acetylcholine - pharmacology; Adrenergic alpha-Agonists - pharmacology; Adrenergic beta-Agonists - pharmacology; Animals; Atropine - pharmacology; Autonomic nervous system; Autonomic Nervous System - drug effects; Autonomic Nervous System - physiopathology; Biological and medical sciences; Ganglionic Blockers - therapeutic use; Hexamethonium - pharmacology; Isoproterenol - pharmacology; Male; Medical sciences; Motion; Motion sickness; Motion Sickness - drug therapy; Motion Sickness - physiopathology; Muscarinic Antagonists - pharmacology; Norepinephrine - pharmacology; Shrews - physiology; Species Specificity; Suncus murinus; Transport. Aerospace. Diving. Altitude; Traumas. Diseases due to physical agents; Vomiting; Vomiting - prevention & control; Motion sickness; Suncus murinus; Autonomic nervous system; Vomiting; Vertebrata; Mammalia; Internal ear disease; Animal; Development; ENT disease; Insectivora; Trauma
• ISSN: 1566-0702; 1872-7484
• DOI: 10.1016/S1566-0702(01)00344-7

To clarify the role of autonomic nervous function in motion sickness, the effect of agents that act on the autonomic nervous system on the motion stimuli-induced emesis was studied in two strains of
Suncus murinus (Jic:SUN-Her and Jic:SUN-Ler) with congenitally different sensitivity to veratrine sulfate. We demonstrated significant differences between the two strains in sensitivity to motion stimuli. Isoproterenol (2.5 mg kg
−1, s.c.) significantly prolonged the latency to the first emetic episode induced by motion stimuli and significantly decreased the number of emetic episodes in Jic:SUN-Her suncus. Hexamethoium (2.0 mg kg
−1, s.c.) tended to shorten the latency in Jic:SUN-Ler. Acetylcholine (1.2 mg kg
−1, s.c.) enhanced the emetic response in Jic:SUN-Ler, but atropine (4.0 mg kg
−1, s.c.) suppressed motion stimuli-induced emetic response in Jic:SUN-Her. These results suggest that the predominance of parasympathetic nervous activity is relevant to the enhancement of motion stimuli-induced emetic response, whereas the predominance of sympathetic nervous activity suppresses motion stimuli-induced emetic response. Norepinephrine (0.8 mg kg
−1, s.c.) enhanced motion stimuli-induced emesis contrary to isoproterenol in Jic:SUN-Ler although both drugs are adrenergic agents. However, atropine pretreatment (4.0 mg kg
−1, s.c.) inhibits norepinephrine-induced emetic response. It was considered that norepinephrine-induced emetic response might be dependent on a secondary increase of parasympathetic nervous activity due to bororeflex. Moreover, the different emetic response in Jic:SUN-Her and Jic:SUN-Ler suncus to motion stimuli and drug administration mentioned above indicated that different participation of autonomic nervous activity and/or afferent information from the baroreceptor in the emetic response may exist between these animal groups.