Peştean C, Taulescu M, Ober C, Cătoi C, Miclăuş V, Oana L, Bodolea C
Department of Pathology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, Cluj-Napoca, Romania;
Rom J Morphol Embryol. 2013;54(3):617-22.
The aim of this study was to evaluate the toxicity of chronic spinal analgesia with pethidine in a rabbit model. We introduced epidural catheters in twenty New Zealand white rabbits, divided into two groups, and we administered 0.5 mg/kg pethidine or the same volume of normal saline through the catheters, for three consecutive days. Throughout the experiment, the animals were evaluated in terms of neurological status using the Tarlov score. After the rabbit's euthanasia, 4 μm sections of spinal cord stained with Hematoxylin-Eosin were analyzed by a pathologist blinded to the study for neurohistopathological changes. The results were statistically analyzed with Prism 5 software for Windows. No significant differences were noticed between the two groups in as far as body temperature (p=0.295) and weight (p=0.139) were concerned. In the group of animals, which received epidural pethidine, nine rabbits showed histological changes suggestive for neurotoxicity at the lumbar level of the spinal cord. These findings were significantly different compared with the control group which received only saline (no microscopic lesions revealed; p=0.0006). When combining the data from both groups or using the pethidine group alone, there was a significant correlation between the presence of neurological injury (Tarlov score) and the presence of the histopathological lesions in the spinal cord (r=-0.709, p=0.0002 and r=-0.635, p=0.013, respectively). Based on our findings, the chronic epidural administration of pethidine in rabbits induces moderate to severe histological changes on the spinal cord, but further investigations are needed to make a definitive statement about the histological effect of pethidine on the neurological tissue.
本研究的目的是在兔模型中评估哌替啶慢性脊髓镇痛的毒性。我们将20只新西兰白兔置入硬膜外导管，分为两组，通过导管连续三天给予0.5mg/kg哌替啶或相同体积的生理盐水。在整个实验过程中，使用塔尔洛夫评分对动物的神经状态进行评估。兔子安乐死后，由对研究不知情的病理学家对苏木精-伊红染色的4μm脊髓切片进行神经组织病理学变化分析。结果使用Windows版Prism 5软件进行统计学分析。就体温（p = 0.295）和体重（p = 0.139）而言，两组之间未观察到显著差异。在接受硬膜外哌替啶的动物组中，9只兔子在脊髓腰段出现提示神经毒性的组织学变化。与仅接受生理盐水的对照组相比，这些发现有显著差异（未发现微观病变；p = 0.0006）。当合并两组数据或仅使用哌替啶组数据时，神经损伤（塔尔洛夫评分）的存在与脊髓组织病理学病变的存在之间存在显著相关性（分别为r = -0.709，p = 0.0002和r = -0.635，p = 0.013）。基于我们的研究结果，兔子慢性硬膜外给予哌替啶会引起脊髓中度至重度组织学变化，但需要进一步研究才能对哌替啶对神经组织的组织学影响做出明确说明。
