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Department of Anesthesiology,
*Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine; and
College of Medicine, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea
Address correspondence and reprint requests to Kook Hyun Lee, MD, Department of Anesthesiology, Seoul National University Hospital, 28, Yongon-Dong, Chongno-Gu, Seoul, Korea 110-774. Address e-mail to leekh{at}plaza.snu.ac.kr
| Abstract |
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Implications: We found that insulin and glucose rapidly reversed hemodynamic abnormality in dogs with bupivacaine-induced cardiac depression. This study implies a possible clinical application of insulin treatment for bupivacaine-induced cardiac depression.
| Introduction |
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We hypothesized that insulin might reverse bupivacaine-induced cardiotoxicity. The purpose of this study was to observe the effect of insulin and glucose on the recovery of bupivacaine-induced cardiac depression in dogs by assessing the hemodynamic and electrophysiologic variables after the insulin administration.
| Methods |
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Anesthesia was induced with sodium pentobarbital 25 mg/kg IV, and maintained with a continuous infusion of 5 mgkg-1h-1. The trachea was intubated with an internal diameter 7-mm cuffed endotracheal tube. Vecuronium was injected IV as a bolus of 0.2 mg/kg, followed by an administration of 0.02 mg/kg at a 30-min interval. Mechanical ventilation was accomplished with a Servo 900CTM ventilator (SIEMENS, Erlangen, Germany) to maintain normocarbia at a fraction of inspired oxygen of 1.0. Lactated Ringers solution was infused at a rate of 5 mLkg-1h-1 throughout the experiment. Rectal temperature was maintained at 37°38°C by using a warming blanket and a radiant heater.
Cardiac rhythm and heart rate (HR) were monitored continuously by using the standard lead II of the electrocardiograph (ECG). Percutaneous polyvinyl catheters were inserted into the right and left femoral arteries to obtain blood samples and to monitor arterial blood pressure. A polyvinyl catheter was positioned in a cephalic vein for fluid and drug infusion. A pulmonary artery catheter (model 93A-132TM, 5F; Baxter Healthcare, Irvine) was introduced via the right external jugular vein to continuously monitor the pulmonary arterial pressure (PAP) and central venous pressure (CVP) and to measure cardiac output (CO) by using the thermodilution method. A fiberoptic pulmonary artery catheter (model 93A-750HTM, 7.5F; Baxter Healthcare) was inserted via the left external jugular vein for the continuous monitoring of the mixed venous oxygen saturation (SvO2) (ExplorerTM; Baxter Healthcare). Lead II ECG and femoral arterial pressure were continuously monitored and recorded in 5-min intervals throughout the experiment with the HP Component Monitoring SystemTM (Hewlett-Packard Model 54S, Andover, MA).
After a 30-min period of stabilization and after measurement of baseline variables, 0.5% bupivacaine was administrated at a rate of 0.5 mgkg-1min-1 via a venous catheter. At the same time, sodium bicarbonate was infused at a rate of 23 mmolkg-1h-1 via another venous catheter to maintain arterial pH at 7.357.45. Bupivacaine was infused continuously until SvO2 decreased to approximately 60% or less, which in this study was defined as the point of cardiac depression. At this time, the dogs in the C and G groups received 2 mL/kg of normal saline and the same dose of 50% dextrose in water for 15 min, respectively. The IG animals received an IV bolus of regular insulin (1 U/kg) followed by a glucose infusion (2 mL/kg of 50% dextrose in water) for 15 min. The IGK dogs received insulin and glucose in the same manner as the IG group and additionally received the potassium at a rate of 13 mEqkg-1h-1 after the initiation of the insulin and glucose infusion to maintain normal serum potassium concentration. Mean arterial pressure (MAP), HR, CVP, PAP, pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (PCWP), CO, and SvO2 were measured at baseline, at the end of the bupivacaine-infusion (BIE), at 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30 min after treatment. Arterial blood samples were obtained for blood gas analysis each time with an assessment of serum Na+, K+, Ca++, glucose, and plasma bupivacaine concentration. Pulmonary arterial blood was withdrawn to perform mixed venous blood gas analysis at the same time. Blood samples for bupivacaine concentration assay were centrifuged at 3000 rpm for 15 min to collect the plasma that was then stored at -20°C until required for analysis. Bupivacaine concentration was measured by using high-performance liquid chromatography (10).
We defined that the animals had successfully recovered from cardiac depression when hemodynamic variables reached the baseline values. At the end of each experiment, the animals were killed with KCL 40 mEq IV. Data were expressed as mean ± SD. One-way analysis of variance and the Tukey test were used to identify the differences among the four groups. Changes over time within each group were evaluated by using analysis of variance for repeated measures and Scheffé F tests. Probability values < 0.05 were accepted as significant. Statistical Analysis SystemTM software (version 6.12; SAS Institute, Cary, NC) was used.
| Results |
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PAP did not change among the groups, ranging from 19.2 ± 2.2 to 21.0 ± 2.0 mm Hg. An increase in the PCWP occurred in all groups during the bupivacaine infusion. PCWP returned to baseline level within 10 min in IG and IGK groups; however, it remained significantly above the baseline level for 20 min in the C and G groups. After the treatment, CVP returned to the baseline level at 30 min in the C and G groups, and at 5 min in the IG and IGK groups. The bupivacaine infusion produced a statistically significant decrease of CO in all animals. There were no significant differences in CO between C and G groups throughout the experiment. CO of the IG and IGK groups reached the baseline values within 5 min, which was significantly greater for 10 and 5 min, respectively, than that of the C group. CO decreased again at 20 and 15 min and recovered at 25 and 30 min in the IG and IGK groups, respectively (Table 1). SvO2 recovered to the baseline levels at 5 min in the IG and IGK groups and at 25 min in the C and G groups (Table 2).
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There were no statistical differences in serum Na+ and Ca++ concentration among the four groups (Table 3 ). In the IG group, mean serum potassium level decreased from 4.2 to 3.3 mEq/L at 5 min after the IV administration of insulin and glucose. The reduction in the serum potassium persisted for the duration of the experiment in the IG group. During this period, serum K+ concentration from the IG group was smaller than that of the C, G, and IGK groups. In the IGK group, the serum potassium concentration remained at the baseline value with the infusion of potassium at 0.9 ± 0.2 mEq/kg.
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| Discussion |
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Infusions of glucose, insulin, and potassium enhance left ventricular performance during burn injury (11) and after myocardial infarction (12). A close relationship between changes in serum osmolality and CO was observed during infusions of glucose, insulin, and potassium; glucose alone; or sorbitol in endotoxemic dogs (13). However, the present study shows that the time course of hemodynamic variables was similar in C and G groups regardless of the plasma glucose level. We speculate that the hyperosmolality effect reported in other experimental settings lacks importance for the initial enhancement in cardiac contractility in bupivacaine-induced cardiac depression.
The rapid production of acidosis and hypoxia after bupivacaine-induced toxicity has been documented in dogs (14). This may be caused by large lactic acid production during seizure, reduced CO, and ineffective removal of lactic acid from the circulation as a result of reduced hepatic blood flow (15). We infused sodium bicarbonate at a rate of 23 mmolkg-1h-1 to maintain arterial pH within normal range after the bupivacaine infusion was initiated.
The bupivacaine infusion decreases CO, MAP, and HR in dogs (16). The major decrease of Vmax of the action potential by bupivacaine might be a result of the preferential binding in the inactivated state of the sodium channels in ventricular muscles (4). Bupivacaine depresses myocardial contractility by altering the Ca++ release from cardiac sarcoplasmic reticulum (3,17). Changes in HR are caused by the inhibition of sodium channels and Ito by bupivacaine (18,19). Bupivacaine blocks the Ito of ventricular myocytes and prolongs the action potential duration by delaying repolarization (2). Delayed repolarization prolongs the QTc (2,17) and forms a U wave or "slow wave" after the T wave (20). In our study, QTc was significantly prolonged, and a U wave was found at the BIE in each one of the dogs in the C and IGK groups. The U wave disappeared at 10 and 5 minutes in the C and IGK groups, respectively. The QRS complex was widened with bupivacaine infusion. Such modification can be interpreted as the inhibition of the fast inward current INa (17). Working on papillary muscles, Clarkson and Hondeghem (4) have demonstrated that a perfusion of bupivacaine results in a reduction of the action potential upstroke velocity, which also leads to the conclusion that this drug blocks the sodium channels. We found PR interval prolongation in all animals as in other studies (17,21), which have revealed that bupivacaine depresses the atrioventricular nodal function by affecting the calcium channels.
However, insulin promotes Ito (6,22), and we hypothesized that it might antagonize the Ito-blocking effect of bupivacaine. In our study, it could be interpreted that the rapid recovery of HR and QTc in the IG and IGK groups was caused by the Ito-stimulating effect of insulin. Ito is believed to be a major contributor in the repolarization of atrial and ventricular myocytes, including those present in the human myocardium (2325).
Insulin has an inotropic effect mediated by the release of adrenal catecholamine induced by hypoglycemia (26) or a small increase of norepinephrine by a direct action of insulin on the central nervous system (27). We found the mean blood glucose level was higher than 94 mg/dl (Table 2), which suggests that sympathetic stimulation by hypoglycemia might be excluded. In pilot experiments using six normal dogs, no significant changes in hemodynamic and catecholamine values were observed after the same infusion of glucose alone or insulin and glucose, as in this study. However, a role for sympathetic nervous system activation cannot be excluded because serum catecholamines were not measured during the present investigation. Gupta et al. (7) conclude that insulin activated Ca++-adenosine triphosphatase of the sarcoplasmic reticulum, and the inotropic effect of insulin was related to Ca++ homeostasis in the sarcoplasmic reticulum of myocytes. This, in part, may explain the rapid recovery of hemodynamic variables from bupivacaine-induced cardiac depression after the insulin infusion.
Regular insulin stimulates potassium uptake in the liver and skeletal muscles by enhancing the activity of the Na-K pump and effectively decreases the serum potassium concentration within 10 minutes and for at least 60 minutes (8). There is some evidence that the inward sodium current can be activated by hypokalemia. Hypokalemia in the extracellular spaces can result in an increase in the resting membrane potential and in action potential height associated with an increase in Vmax (9). We expected that the insulin would alleviate the bupivacaine-induced sodium inward current and Vmax inhibition and rapidly recover hemodynamic variables and QRS duration. The recovery of the QRS duration was slow, but it was more rapid in IG group than in the IGK group (20 vs 30 minutes). In addition, hemodynamic variables were not different between the IG and IGK groups throughout the experiment. HR in the IG and IGK groups decreased again below the baseline level after the initial recovery. A possible reason for this may be the decline of insulin concentration because the serum half-life of porcine insulin was reported 5.1 ± 0.9 minutes after the bolus injection (28). CO also decreased again below the baseline level after the initial recovery, and the duration of diminution in CO was shorter in the IG group than in the IGK (5 vs 15 minutes). However, we believe that hypokalemia, induced by the insulin infusion, did not play a major role in the recovery from bupivacaine-induced cardiac depression.
We found that both IG and IGK have a prompt effect on the recovery of cardiac depression by the bupivacaine infusion. This suggests that insulin-glucose has a role in the treatment of bupivacaine-induced cardiac depression.
| Footnotes |
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| References |
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