Frontiers in Medicine (Aug 2022)

Intralipid fails to rescue bupivacaine-induced cardiotoxicity in late-pregnant rats

  • Caitlin Sherman,
  • Natalie Koons,
  • Michael Zargari,
  • Catherine Cha,
  • Jason Hirsch,
  • Richard Hong,
  • Mansoureh Eghbali,
  • Soban Umar

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmed.2022.899036
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 9

Abstract

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BackgroundFemales routinely receive bupivacaine for obstetric and regional anesthesia. An accidental overdose of bupivacaine can result in cardiotoxicity and cardiac arrest. Intralipid (ILP) rescues bupivacaine-induced cardiotoxicity in male rats. However, bupivacaine cardiotoxicity and ILP rescue have not been studied in non-pregnant and late-pregnant female rats. Here, we tested the hypothesis that an appropriate dose of ILP would rescue non-pregnant and late-pregnant rats from bupivacaine-induced cardiotoxicity.MethodsNon-pregnant (n = 6) and late-pregnant (n = 7) female rats received intravenous bupivacaine (10-mg/kg bolus) to induce asystole. Resuscitation with 20% ILP (5-ml/kg actual body weight, single bolus, and 0.5-ml/kg/min maintenance) and chest compressions were continued for 10-min. Serial heart rate (HR), left ventricular ejection-fraction (LVEF%), and LV-fractional shortening (LVFS%) were recorded at baseline and 10-min after bupivacaine-induced cardiac arrest. Data are mean ± SD followed by 95% CI. P-values < 0.05 were considered statistically significant.ResultsAll rats developed cardiac arrest within a few seconds after bupivacaine. All non-pregnant rats were successfully rescued by ILP, with a HR of 280 ± 32 bpm at baseline vs. 212 ± 18 bpm at 10-min post ILP (p < 0.01), LVEF of 70 ± 6% vs. 68 ± 5% (p = ns), and LVFS of 41 ± 5% vs. 39 ± 4% (p = ns). Interestingly, 6 out of 7 late-pregnant rats did not recover with ILP. Baseline HR, LVEF and LVFS for late-pregnant rats were 330 ± 40 bpm, 66 ± 5% and 38 ± 4%, respectively. At 10-min post ILP, the HR, LVEF, and LVFS were 39 ± 102 bpm (p < 0.0001), 8 ± 22% (p < 0.0001), and 5 ± 12% (p < 0.001), respectively.ConclusionsILP successfully rescued bupivacaine-induced cardiac arrest in non-pregnant rats, but failed to rescue late-pregnant rats.

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