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Nausea and vomiting are significant adverse effects of chemotherapeutic agents like cisplatin, and cause significant patient morbidity. Cisplatin treatment results in oxidant gut injury, which is postulated to be the primary cause of nausea and vomiting. We evaluated the effects of two antioxidant herbs, Scutellaria baicalensis and American ginseng berry, on cisplatin-induced nausea and vomiting using a rat model. Rats react to emetic or nausea-producing stimuli, such as cisplatin, with altered feeding habits, manifested by increased kaolin consumption (pica). We measured pica in rats to quantify cisplatin-induced nausea. We observed that pretreatment of rats with S. baicalensis or ginseng berry extracts resulted in a significant reduction in cisplatin-induced pica. The in vitro free radical scavenging ability of the herbal extract observed in the study, further confirmed the antioxidant action of the herb. We conclude that herbal antioxidants may have a role in attenuating cisplatin-induced nausea and vomiting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scutellaria baicalensis (SbE) is a commonly used Chinese herb medicine and grape seed proanthocyanidins is a popular herbal supplement in the United States. Both herbs have been shown to possess potent antioxidant effects. Using an in vitro model to produce the reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation (H2O2/FeSO4 for hydroxyl radicals, xanthine/xanthine oxidase for suproxide), we observed that Scutellaria baicalensis and grape seed proanthocyanidins acted synergistically to scavenge ROS. Our data suggest that a combination of these two herbs can potentially enhance their antioxidant efficacy, allowing lower dosages of each drug to be used. This has the advantage of avoiding possible side effects that may arise when higher doses of a single herb are used in an attempt to achieve a maximum degree of antioxidant activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]