Effects of lidocaine on cerebral lipid peroxidation and neutrophil activation following complete compression ischemia

The effect of lidocaine on brain lipid peroxidation, as reflected by jugular vein malondialdehyde concentrations, and of polymorphonuclear leukocyte activation in peripheral venous blood samples following transient global cerebral ischemia, were studied. In normothermic dogs subjected to a 10 min elevation of cerebrospinal fluid pressure and a subsequent 60 min reperfusion, the malondialdehyde concentration during the first 3 min of reperfusion increased significantly (p < 0.05) in the jugular vein. Lidocaine (10 mg/kg, i.v.), administered 10 min before ischemia, not only prevented the elevation of the malondialdehyde concentrations during ischemia, but also provoked a significant transient decrease 10 min after the start of reperfusion. A 10 min ischemia and a 60 min reperfusion caused no significant changes in the polymorphonuclear leukocyte radical production, neither following ischemia nor after addition of lidocaine. These results suggest that lidocaine exerts a scavenging action on free radical processes but that it has no direct effect on the polymorphonuclear leukocyte activation in the early phase of reperfusion following ischemia.