Effect of lidocaine in acute ischemic situations: A computer modelling study

Lidocaine is a drug that blocks the sodium channel in a pH, frequency and concentration dependent manner. In this work, we have used a mathematical model of lidocaine developed by our group and incorporated it into the Luo Rudy model of ventricular action potential. We have studied the action of lidocaine on the sodium current (I_Na), maximum upstroke velocity (dV/dt) and conduction velocity (CV) in ischemic tissue. Additionally, we measured the block window (BW) in different concentrations of drug .Our results show that 100 mumol/L of lidocaine under simulated acute ischemic conditions reduces the I_Na, dV/dt and CV a 42%, 41% and 24% in the normal zone (cell 54), respectively while in the border zone (cell 94) the decreased was 37%; 44% and 18% for the same parameters. Finally, we have found that lidocaine diminished the BW, thus the drug tends to eliminate the UDB.