Dexamethasone Attenuated The Neurotoxicity Of Lidocaine In Mouse Neuroblastoma N2a Cells

Increasing laboratory evidence suggests that local anesthetics are potentially neurotoxic and that neurologic impairment following regional anesthesia may result from a direct neurotoxic. Dexamethasone can protect N2a cells from bupivacaine-induced neurotoxicity through stabilization of mitochondrial transmembrane potential and inhibition of dephosphorylation of Akt and ERKs. In this study, we will investigate the effect of dexamethasone on the toxicity of lidocaine (a clinical widely used local anesthetics as bupivacaine) in mouse neuroblastoma N2a cells. Our results demonstrated that lidocaine can cause neurotoxicity in N2a cells, dose-dependently. Dexamethasone can attenuate the neuron injury of lidocaine. The neuroprotection of dexamethasone may involve the activation of Akt-dependent pathway.