A new method for studying the distribution of drugs in spinal cord after intrathecal injection

The pharmacological effect of local anaesthetic solutions in mice including their distribution within the spinal cord, were assessed following intrathecal injection at the L5-L6 interspace. A solution of 5 microliters radioactively labelled lidocaine at a concentration of 50 mg/ml or bupivacaine at 7.5 mg/ml, was used. Both drugs blocked the motor function of the hindlegs in less than 1 min. This persisted for 15.1 +/- 0.8 min. (mean +/- S.E.M.) after lidocaine and 15.2 +/- 2.7 min. after bupivacaine. The highest spinal cord concentration was adjacent to the site of injection, even if traces were present up to the lower cervical cord. The tissue concentration of bupivacaine was considerably less than that of lidocaine, despite a similar motor blockade. When the injected volume was doubled from 5 to 10 microliters, there was a tendency to a more cephalic distribution of lidocaine. When the speed of injection was increased from 2.5 sec., to 30 sec., no difference in results was seen. The drug concentration at the injection site tended to fall in animals alive until 5 min. after the injection, whereas it persisted in animals sacrificed before the intrathecal injection, suggesting that the circulatory transport is the major route of redistribution from the cord.