Anti-inflammatory efficiency of levobupivacaine in an experimental colitis model.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the efficiency of levobupivacaine in treating experimentally induced colitis in rats.


METHODS
Colitis was induced by trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid and ethanol in 30 rats under general anesthesia, and 10 rats were used as a sham group. Subsequent to induction of colitis, rats were divided into three groups; budesonide group received 0.1 mg/kg budesonide, levobupivacaine group received 10 mg/kg levobupivacaine and saline group received 1 mL saline solution via rectal route for 7 d. In the sham group, only routine rectal catheterization was performed without use of any material. At the end of 7 d, laparotomy and total colectomy were performed for histopathological examination in all rats and blood samples were drawn for measurement of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha and interleukin (IL)-6 following cardiac puncture. Macroscopic and microscopic evaluations of the specimens were performed by a pathologist blinded to group assignment of the rats.


RESULTS
Weight loss (P = 0.016) and macroscopic examination scores (P = 0.001) were significantly higher in saline group than others. Histopathological scoring was comparable between all colitis groups (P = 0.350). There was no significant difference in TNF-alpha levels and IL-6 levels (P = 0.150).


CONCLUSIONS
The significant improvement in macroscopic scores suggests that levobupivacaine may have topical anti-inflammatory effects in an experimental colitis model; however, this finding was not supported by microscopic findings.
Duman
Ugur
U
Department of General Surgery, Uludag University School of Medicine, Gorukle, 16069 Bursa, Turkey.
Yilmazlar
Aysun
A
Ozturk
Ersin
E
Aker
Sibel
S
Sarandol
Emre
E
Yilmazlar
Tuncay
T
D000779:Anesthetics, Local / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000818:Animals; D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D019819:Budesonide / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002045:Bupivacaine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003092:Colitis / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000188:drug therapy*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D000077554:Levobupivacaine; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley
D000779:Anesthetics, Local; D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents; D019819:Budesonide; D000077554:Levobupivacaine; D002045:Bupivacaine