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Updated: Apr 19, 2026

Assessing Changes in Volatile General Anesthetic Sensitivity of Mice after Local or Systemic Pharmacological Intervention
Published on: October 16, 2013
[Evaluation of genotoxicity induced by repetitive administration of local anaesthetics: an experimental study in
Gisele Alborghetti Nai1, Mariliza Casanova de Oliveira2, Graziela de Oliveira Tavares3
1Departamento de Patologia, Universidade do Oeste Paulista, Presidente Prudente, SP, Brasil.
Background And Objective:
Previous studies regarding the effects of some local anaesthetics have suggested that these agents can cause genetic damage. However, they have not been tested for genotoxicity related to repetitive administration. The aim of this study was to evaluate the genotoxic potential of local anaesthetics upon repetitive administration.
Methods:
80 male Wistar rats were divided into: group A - 16 rats intraperitoneally injected with lidocaine hydrochloride 2%; group B - 16 rats IP injected with mepivacaine 2%; group C - 16 rats intraperitoneally injected with articaine 4%; group D - 16 rats IP injected with prilocaine 3% (6.0mg/kg); group E - 8 rats subcutaneously injected with a single dose of cyclophosphamide; and group F - 8 rats intraperitoneally injected with saline. Eight rats from groups A to D received a single dose of anaesthetic on Day 1 of the experiment; the remaining rats were dosed once a day for 5 days.
Results:
The median number of micronuclei in the local anaesthetics groups exposed for 1 or 5 days ranged from 0.00 to 1.00, in the cyclophosphamide-exposed group was 10.00, and the negative control group for 1 and 5 days was 1.00 and 0.00, respectively (p<0.0001). A significant difference in the number of micronuclei was observed between the cyclophosphamide group and all local anaesthetic groups (p=0.0001), but not between the negative control group and the local anaesthetic groups (p>0.05).
Conclusion:
No genotoxicity effect was observed upon repetitive exposure to any of the local anaesthetics evaluated.
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