TY - JOUR TI - The Influence of Diphenhydramine Administration on Lidocaine Protein Binding in Rat Serum and Tissues AU - Tigka, E. AU - Alevizou, A. AU - Kotsiou, A. AU - Tesseromatis, C. JO - International Journal of Pharmacology PY - 2011 VL - 7 TODO - 8 SP - 880-883 PB - Asian Network for Scientific Information (ANSINET) SN - 1811-7775, 1812-5700 TODO - 10.3923/ijp.2011.880.883 TODO - Antihistamine; local anaesthetic; alpha-1-acid glycoprotein; displacement; pharmacokinetics interaction TODO - Lidocaine is an amide type local anaesthetic and diphenhydramine is a first-generation antihistamine drug. The aim of the present study was to investigate the influence of diphenhydramine co-administration on the extent of lidocaine binding to rat serum and maxillofacial tissue proteins in order to determine a possible synergistic action that could enhance lidocaine’s anaesthetic/analgesic activity. Twenty-eight Wistar rats divided in 4 groups (I, II, Ill, IV) received lidocaine in the masseter muscle. Groups II and IV received diphenhydramine per os 2 h before lidocaine administration. Groups I and II were sacrificed after 15 min and groups III and IV 30 min after lidocaine injection. Masseter and mandible samples were isolated and incubated in NaCl 0.9% solution while serum was obtained through blood centrifugation. Free lidocaine fraction in the tissues’ incubation medium and the serum was obtained through ultrafiltration and determined by radioscopic method in a beta-counter Lidocaine’s free fraction levels (mu g g(-1)) were enhanced after 15 min under diphenhydramine co-administration in all samples from (7.1319 +/- 1.4066) x 10(-4) to (12.1097 +/- 3.7528) x 10(-4) in serum, from 0.9339 +/- 0.3077 to 2.6791 +/- 1.1648 in masseter (p<0.01) and from 0.3898 +/- 0.0879 to 0.6918 +/- 0.2743 in mandible (p<0.05). A statistically significant increase in free anaesthetic levels was also noticed after 30 min in serum from (8.6227 +/- 0.6902) x 10(-4) to (13.9518 +/- 4.9849) x 10(-4) (p<0.05). Lidocaine’s increase could probably be attributed to mechanisms influencing its protein binding properties. Consequently, a possible synergistic action of the two drugs’ combination is demonstrated which could enhance lidocaine’s anaesthetic action, affecting depth and duration of anaesthesia. ER -