Background:Cisplatin is a widely used antineoplastic drug. However, cisplatin-induced dyspepsia syndromes, including delayed gastric emptying, gastric distension, early satiety, nausea, and vomiting, often force patients to take doses lower than those prescribed or even refuse treatment. D-methionine has an appetite-enhancing effect and alleviates weight loss during cisplatin treatment.
Methods:This work established a model of anorexia and dyspepsia symptoms with intraperitoneal injection of cisplatin (5 mg/kg) once a week for three cycles.Presupplementation with or without D-methionine (300 mg/kg) was performed.Orexigenic and anorexigenic hormones (ghrelin, leptin, and glucagon-like peptide-1), tryptophan hydroxylase 1 (TPH1), 5-hydroxytryptamine receptors (5-HT 2C and 5-HT 3 ), and hypothalamic feeding-related peptides were measured by immunohistochemistry staining, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and real-time PCR assay.Key results: Cisplatin administration caused marked decrease in appetite and body weight, promoted adipose and fat tissue atrophy, and delayed gastric emptying and gastric distension, and D-methionine preadministration prior to cisplatin administration significantly ameliorated these side effects. Besides, cisplatin induced an evident increase in serum ghrelin level, TPH1 activity, and 5-HT 3 receptor expression in the intestine and decreased plasma leptin levels and gastric ghrelin mRNA gene expression levels. D-methionine supplementation recovered these changes. The expression of orexigenic neuropeptide Y/ agouti-related peptide and anorexigenic cocaine-and amphetamine-regulated transcript proopiomelanocortin neurons were altered by D-methionine supplementation in cisplatininduced anorexia rats.
Conclusions and inferences: D-methionine supplementation prevents cisplatin-in-duced anorexia and dyspepsia syndrome possibly by attenuating intestinal tryptophan hydroxylase 1 activity and increasing plasma leptin concentration. Therefore, D-methionine can be used as an adjuvant therapy for treating cisplatin-induced adverse effects.