Host: The Japanese Society of Toxicology
Fatigue is the most prevalent symptom of individuals with cancer who receive radiation therapy, cytotoxic chemotherapy, or biological response modifiers. However, cancer-related fatigue remains undertreated and poorly understood. Given the unmet need, new effective cancer-related fatigue treatments are needed. In the present study, we used cancer-free mice to examine the specific influence of chemotherapy on fatigue. Mice were administered a single dose of cisplatin (CDDP; 10 mg/kg, i.p.) or saline as a control, and then were treated with carbohydrate-enriched diet, fat-enriched diet or saline daily for 4 days. At 24 h after the final dose of diets or saline, fatigue-like behavior was assessed by running activity on a treadmill. After administration of CDDP, running activity of mice decreased significantly. Under these conditions, we found that daily intake of carbohydrate-enriched diet increased the running activity of CDDP-treated mice compared to daily intake of fat-enriched diet. Furthermore, CDDP-treated mice were given daily intake of sucrose, fructose, glucose, or olive oil for 4 days. In CDDP-treated mice, daily intake of sucrose and glucose, but not fructose and olive oil, caused a significant and dose-dependent increase of both the liver glycogen content and running activity. These results suggest that maintenance of the liver glycogen content prevented fatigue-like behavior in mice after administration of CDDP.
