Levels of Antioxidants in the Spinal Fluid after Induction of Anesthesia with Ropivacaine

Abstract

Introduction:

Anesthesia is a loss of sensation or consciousness and mechanisms by which drugs can produce this state are not clear. Recent studies gave insight show anesthetic agents may lead to loss of consciousness at the molecular level. The objective of this study was to determine whether ropivacaine can influence antioxidant defense system.

Material and method:

To analyze the response of the antioxidant defense system to ropivacaine samples were taken from the vein before anesthesia (0 min) and 5 min, 15 min, and 60 min after anesthesia. Subsequently, the levels of lipid peroxidation as melaninedialdehyde (MDA) and glutathione (GSH), as well as superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) activities were measured.

Results:

We observed moderate increase in lipid peroxidation and glutathione levels. More­over, the activity of superoxide dismutase was slightly enhanced. These alterations occurred 5 min after spinal injection of ropivacaine and this phenomenon was maintained throughout anesthesia. We measured decreased catalase activity starting from 5 min after anesthesia and activity of this antioxidant enzyme was not recovered even after 60 min of anesthesia.

Conclusion:

We found that spinal injection of ropivacaine results in increased levels of free radicals in spinal fluid, which may stimulate antioxidant defense system of spinal fluid during anesthesia.

Key words

glutathione - anesthetics agents - reactive oxygen species - antioxidant defense system

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