Physiology and pharmacology of nausea and vomiting

Abstract The physiology of nausea and vomiting is poorly understood. The initiation of vomiting varies and may be due to motion, pregnancy, chemotherapy, gastric irritation or postoperative causes. Once initiated, vomiting occurs in two stages, retching and expulsion. The muscles responsible for this sequence of events are controlled by either a vomiting centre or a central pattern generator,…