Effects of Paclitaxel Exposure on Food Intake and Body Weight Gain in Adult Rats

Abstract

For the therapeutic management of various types of cancer, paclitaxel (PTX) is commonly used for chemotherapy. Peripheral neuropathy, neuropathic pain, behavioral changes and emotional depression are all side effects of PTX therapy, but their effect on food consumption and body weight gain in adult patient have not been well reported so far. Therefore, present study aimed to evaluate the impact of PTX on food consumption and body weight gain in adult female Wistar rats. In this study, selected equivalent therapeutic doses of PTX (1.6 and 3.2 mg/kg bw) were administered intermittently for six weeks (once a week) intravenously in tail vein via catheter. During experiment, food consumption and body weight of PTX exposed and control rats were recorded. During six weeks of intermittent exposure, our results revealed dose-dependent substantial reduction in food consumption and body weight except first week of PTX exposure in adult Wistar female rats. The effect of equivalent therapeutic doses of PTX was found to be associated with feeding pattern (anorexia) and body weight loss (body mass index) involving multifactorial regulatory mechanisms for controlling the food consumption and body weight changes.