Pica as an adaptive response: Kaolin consumption helps rats recover from chemotherapy-induced illness

• Published in: Physiology & behavior Vol. 97; no. 1; pp. 87 - 90
• Main Authors: De Jonghe, Bart C, Lawler, Maureen P, Horn, Charles C, Tordoff, Michael G
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier Inc 20.04.2009; Elsevier
• Subjects: Animals; Behavioral psychophysiology; Biological and medical sciences; Body Weight - drug effects; Cisplatin; Cisplatin - poisoning; Clay; Drinking - drug effects; Drug Interactions; Eating - drug effects; Emesis; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Kaolin - pharmacology; Male; Nausea; Pica; Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Vagus; Clay; Pica; Nausea; Vagus; Emesis; Cisplatin; Antineoplastic agent; Rat; Rodentia; Adaptive response; Pharmacotherapy; Eating disorder; Alkylating agent; Vertebrata; Chemotherapy; Mammalia; Treatment; Animal; Platinum II Complexes

Abstract Clay consumption can occur during illness but there has been little work to understand why. To investigate whether consuming clay confers an advantage to the sick animal, we compared the recovery from illness of adult male rats with or without access to kaolin. Illness was induced by inject...