Premium
Small bowel changes associated with vincristine sulfate treatment: An experimental study in the guinea pig
Author(s) -
Hobsonii Robert W.,
Jervis Helen R.,
Kingry Roy L.,
Wallace James R.
Publication year - 1974
Publication title -
cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.052
H-Index - 304
eISSN - 1097-0142
pISSN - 0008-543X
DOI - 10.1002/1097-0142(197412)34:6<1888::aid-cncr2820340606>3.0.co;2-5
Subject(s) - medicine , vincristine , ileus , pathology , ileum , gastroenterology , atrophy , chemotherapy , cyclophosphamide
Vincristine sulfate therapy can result in intestinal ulceration and adynamic ileus. To evaluate the etiology of the gastrointestinal side‐effects of this treatment, guinea pigs were treated with vincristine I.P. and I.V. and sacrificed 1 to 5 days later. Histologically the small bowel mucosa, on the 1st day after injection, showed in the crypts necrotic cells and mitoses in metaphase. By the 2nd and 3rd days after injection, severe villous atrophy and occasional mucosal erosions were seen. Alterations in the intestinal intramural nerve plexuses were also observed, as demonstrated by alkaline phosphatase activity and catecholamine fluorescence. Vincristine appears to have a two‐fold effect on the small bowel: it interferes with normal mucosal renewal processes, producing mucosal atrophy, and it alters the structural appearance as well as the catecholamine content of the intramural nerve plexuses. Changes observed in the experimental animal may explain gastrointestinal complications, such as bowel ulceration and adynamic ileus, observed occasionally in cancer patients receiving vincristine therapy.