Effect of chronic vincristine treatment on mechanical withdrawal response and pre-pulse inhibition in the rat

Chemotherapeutic agents are associated with a number of serious side-effects. In addition to the development of peripheral neuropathy, patients often complain of additional symptoms related to attentional mechanisms. Although a great deal of interest is directed towards understanding the mechanisms underlying the development of peripheral neuropathy, there is a paucity of research that has examined the extent of impairment of attention in animals receiving chemotherapeutic agents. Therefore, the purpose of this experiment was to examine attentional mechanisms using the method of pre-pulse inhibition in animals that were chronically treated with vincristine. Although vincristine treated animals developed signs of peripheral neuropathy, there was no associated alteration of pre-pulse inhibition relative to vehicle treated animals. These results highlight the importance of continuing to develop methodology to model symptom burden in patients receiving chemotherapy.