Abstract
Chemotherapy often causes side effects that include disturbances in taste functions. Cyclophosphamide (CYP) is a chemotherapy drug that, after a single dose, elevates murine taste thresholds at times related to drug-induced losses of taste sensory cells and disruptions of proliferating cells that renew taste sensory cells. Pretreatment with amifostine can protect the taste system from many of these effects. This study compared the effects of a single dose (75 mg/kg) of CYP with effects generated by fractionated dosing of CYP (5 doses of 15 mg/kg), a dosing approach often used during chemotherapy, on the taste system of mice using immunohistochemistry. Dose fractionation prolonged the suppressive effects of CYP on cell proliferation responsible for renewal of taste sensory cells. Fractionation also reduced the total number of cells and the proportion of Type II cells within taste buds. The post-injection time of these losses coincided with the life span of Type I and II taste cells combined with lack of replacement cells. Fractionated dosing also decreased Type III cells more than a single dose, but loss of these cells may be due to factors related to the general health and/or cell renewal of taste buds rather than the life span of Type III cells. In general, pretreatment with amifostine appeared to protect taste cell renewal and the population of cells within taste buds from the cytotoxic effects of CYP with few observable adverse effects due to repeated administration. These findings may have important implications for patients undergoing chemotherapy.
Highlights
Patients undergoing chemotherapy often report that their sense of taste has been adversely affected by their treatment [1, 2]
The results of experiment 1 indicated that both CYP dosing regimens disrupted the taste system, dose fractionation appeared to have a more severe impact on taste buds than a large dose administered in a single injection
The findings of this study provide new insights into how the taste system may be impacted by different dosing regimens a patient might encounter during chemotherapy
Summary
Patients undergoing chemotherapy often report that their sense of taste has been adversely affected by their treatment [1, 2]. Disturbances in taste can have a negative impact on nutritional intake, reduce energy intake at a time when an increase in energy is necessary, and result in a poorer
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