Motion-Induced Nausea and Vomiting

Motion sickness is a common problem on land, at sea, and in air and space. This chapter presents relatively new work relating to motion sickness, especially motion-induced nausea and vomiting. Motion sickness has also been reported in several species other than man — cats, dogs, squirrel monkeys, chimpanzees, horses, cows, sheep, birds, seals, and fish. Motion sickness may be expected to occur on long duration space flights if a portion of a future spacecraft is rotated for the purpose of creating artificial gravity or when the craft re-enters a strong gravitational field. Susceptibility to motion sickness has been correlated with increased nausea and vomiting in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, both in anticipation of drug treatment and as post-treatment side effects. The coordinated action of the major respiratory muscles generates the changes in intrathoracic and intra-abdominal pressures that are primarily responsible for producing the motor act of vomiting. The understanding of the central nervous system correlates of motion sickness remains limited.