Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Apr;33(4):e14020.
doi: 10.1111/nmo.14020. Epub 2020 Oct 28.

Effects of the food additive monosodium glutamate on cisplatin-induced gastrointestinal dysmotility and peripheral neuropathy in the rat

Yolanda López-Tofiño  1   2 , Gema Vera  1   2   3 , Laura López-Gómez  1   2 , Rocío Girón  1   3   4 , Kulmira Nurgali  5   6   7 , Jose A Uranga  1   2 , Raquel Abalo  1   2   3
Affiliations

Effects of the food additive monosodium glutamate on cisplatin-induced gastrointestinal dysmotility and peripheral neuropathy in the rat

Yolanda López-Tofiño et al. Neurogastroenterol Motil. 2021 Apr.

Abstract

Background: Cisplatin is an antineoplastic drug known to produce intense vomiting, gastric dysmotility, and peripheral neuropathy. Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is a flavor enhancer with prokinetic properties potentially useful for cancer patients under chemotherapy. Our aim was to test whether MSG may improve gastrointestinal motor dysfunction and other adverse effects induced by repeated cisplatin in rats.

Methods: Male Wistar rats were exposed or not to MSG (4 g L-1 ) in drinking water from week 0 to 1 week after treatment. On the first day of weeks 1-5, rats were treated with saline or cisplatin (2 mg kg-1 week-1 , ip). Gastrointestinal motility was measured by radiological methods after first and fifth administrations, as well as 1 week after treatment finalization. One week after treatment, the threshold for mechanical somatic sensitivity was recorded. Finally, samples of stomach, terminal ileum and kidneys were evaluated in sections using conventional histology. The myenteric plexus was immunohistochemically evaluated on distal colon whole-mount preparations.

Key results: Monosodium glutamate prevented the development of cisplatin-induced neuropathy and partially improved intestinal transit after the fifth cisplatin administration with little impact on gastric dysmotility. MSG did not improve the histological damage of gut wall, but prevented the changes induced by cisplatin in the colonic myenteric plexus.

Conclusion and inferences: Our results suggest that MSG can improve some dysfunctions caused by anticancer chemotherapy in the gut and other systems, associated, at least partially, with neuroprotectant effects. The potentially useful adjuvant role of this food additive to reduce chemotherapy-induced sequelae warrants further evaluation.

Keywords: cisplatin; gastric emptying; intestinal transit; monosodium glutamate; myenteric; peripheral neuropathy; rat.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

REFERENCES

    1. Schwartzberg LS. Chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting: clinician and patient perspectives. J Support Oncol. 2007;5(2 Suppl 1):5-12.
    1. Navari RM. Prevention of emesis from multiple-day and high-dose chemotherapy regimens. J Natl Compr Canc Netw. 2007;5(1):51-59.
    1. Markman M. Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy: underreported and underappreciated. Curr Pain Headache Rep. 2006;10(4):275-278.
    1. Van Cutsem E, Arends J. The causes and consequences of cancer-associated malnutrition. Eur J Oncol Nurs. 2005;9(Suppl 2):S51-S63.
    1. Nurgali K, Jagoe RT, Abalo R. Editorial: adverse effects of cancer chemotherapy: anything new to improve tolerance and reduce sequelae? Front Pharmacol. 2018;22(9):245. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2018.00245

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources