Penetration of lidocaine and its active desethylated metabolite into cerebrospinal fluid in man.

Penetration into lumbar cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of lidocaine and its active desethylated metabolite, monoethylglycinxylidide (MEGX), has been studied in 10 neurological patients after a single subcutaneous injection of 2 mg/kg prior to lumbar puncture. An HPLC method was used to assay lidocaine, MEGX and glycinxylidide (GX) in serum and CSF. The serum protein unbound fraction of lidocaine was determined by equilibrium dialysis. The mean peak serum lidocaine concentration was found 25 minutes after injection, and the corresponding peak CSF level occurred after 70 min. A similar slow penetration of MEGX into CSF was observed, which indicates low membrane permeability for these two agents. No GX was found. The steadily increasing CSF lidocaine/serum total lidocaine ratio throughout the period of study up to 120 min and the higher level in CSF than the corresponding unbound fraction of the total serum lidocaine indicate that serum protein binding is not the sole determinant of the penetration of lidocaine into lumbar CSF. Rapid accumulation in brain tissue and diffusion back into cerebral extracellular fluid and to lumbar CSF may also occur. The apparent slow membrane penetration of lidocaine and its desethylated metabolite may be one reason for the difficulty of controlling lidocaine infusion rates according to therapeutic effectiveness and side-effects.