Background: The effect of glucose on local anesthetic-induced neural damage has not been fully studied. We examined the effect of glucose on hemolysis induced by local anesthetics.
Methods: The mean EC50 values (the local anesthetic level that causes destruction of half of the red blood cells in vitro) of lidocaine HCl, tetracaine HCl and dibucaine HCl were determined with 0% and 7.5% glucose contained in Krebs solution at pH 6.4.
Results: The mean EC50 values of lidocaine HCl, tetracaine HCl, and dibucaine HCl in 0%-glucose Krebs solution were 6.51%, 0.45%, 0.17%, respectively, which increased significantly to 7.05%, 0.64% and 0.23%, in 7.5% glucose Krebs solution at pH 6.4.
Conclusions: Glucose may have a protective role in local anesthetic-induced neural damage.