Effectiveness of perphenazine and Systral against motion sickness

¹ Department of Pharmacology and Biochemistry, School of Aviation Medicine, USAF, Randolph Air Force Base, Texas

Perphenazine, a drug with high activity against apomorphine-induced vomiting in dogs, and Systral, an antiemetic analogue of benadryl with little or no activity against apomorphine-induced vomiting in dogs, were tested for antimotion sickness activity in human beings aboard aircraft. Neither furnished any protection. Further, dogs were swing-tested after the administration of chlorpromazine and perphenazine. In spite of the significant difference in protection against apomorphine-induced vomiting afforded by the two drugs (perphenazine much greater than chlorpromazine), perphenazine failed to protect against swing-induced vomiting and chlorpromazine furnished only 25% protection. These data emphasize the unreliability of extending the results of apomorphine inhibition to the relationship of the chemoceptive trigger zone to motion sickness.