Intraperitoneal Injection of Cisplatin Induces Nausea-Like Responses without Vomiting in Chicks (Gallus gallus domesticus)

Cisplatin is an anti-cancer drug that causes nausea and vomiting as adverse effects. Cisplatin-induced responses have been widely used to investigate the mechanisms underlying nausea and vomiting in several mammalian species. Because nausea and vomiting are caused by a variety of factors, including disease and stress, clarification of these mechanisms would contribute to improving animal welfare in poultry production. However, the effects of cisplatin in chickens have not been well documented. Thus, we examined whether intraperitoneal (IP) injection of cisplatin caused nausea and vomiting in chicks. IP injection of cisplatin decreased food intake, voluntary activity, and the passage of food from the crop. Moreover, cisplatin tended to increase plasma corticosterone concentrations and decreased plasma glucose concentration. As these effects are consistent with nausea-related responses observed in mammals, cisplatin might also induce nausea in chicks. However, cisplatin did not induce vomiting in any experiments. Furthermore, cisplatin slightly decreased the pH of the crop contents and phenol red gavaged into the proventriculus refluxed into the crop, although these effects were not considerable. Thus, the lack of substantial reflux from the proventriculus prevented vomiting in chicks after cisplatin injection.