Study on antihemolitic effect and anesthetic effect of local anesthetics on erythrocyte membrane

In the 1960s, Seeman et al, reported the effects of local anesthetics on the cell membrane, stating that low concentrations of local anesthetics strengthen the erythrocyte membrane and exert an antihemolytic effect as a result, but high concentrations of them cause hemolysis. There have been other reports concerning the interaction between anesthetic potency and hemolysis. In this study, we determined the antihemolytic effect of local anesthetics in human erythrocyte membrane and their correlation to anesthetic potency. Each local anesthetic was added at various concentrations (0-10mM) to isotonic TRIS. LA isotonic TRIS was added to 75ƒÊL of erythrocyte solution. Subsequently, hypotonic TRIS which had the same concentration of local anesthetic as the LA isotonic TRIS, was added. The resultant solution was centrifuged at 12,000g for 5 min. The absorbance of the supernatant to a wavelength of 540nm was measured using a spectrophotometer. The antihemolytic effect of the local anesthetic at each concentration was obtained by the following formula: