Comparative efficacy of a single oral dose of ondansetron and of buspirone against cisplatin-induced emesis in cancer patients.

Buspirone, an agonist of the 5-HT1A subtype of serotonin receptors, has shown antiemetic activity in animal models. However, in cancer patients treated with cisplatin, ondansetron, given either i.v. (one 8-mg dose 30 min after cisplatin) or orally (one 16-mg dose at the end of cisplatin infusion) was superior (P < 0.001) to buspirone (60 mg p.o. at the end of cisplatin and 60 mg p.o., 30 min later), in all parameters of antiemetic efficacy. These results are in favour of 5-HT3 receptors, but against the participation of 5-HT1A receptors in acute emesis associated with cisplatin chemotherapy.