Synergistic effect of lidocaine with pingyangmycin for treatment of venous malformation using a mouse spleen model.

AIMS To explore whether lidocaine has the synergistic effect with pingyangmycin (PYM) in the venous malformations (VMs) treatment. METHODS The mouse spleen was chosen as a VM model and injected with different concentration of lidocaine or PYM or jointly treated with lidocaine and PYM. After 2, 5, 8 or 14 days, the mouse spleen tissues were acquired for hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis, TUNEL assay and quantitative RT-PCR analysis to examine the toxicological effects of lidocaine and PYM on splenic vascular endothelial cells. RESULTS 0.4% of lidocaine mildly promoted the apoptosis of endothelial cells, while 2 mg/ml PYM significantly elevated the apoptotic ratios. However, the combination of 0.2% lidocaine and 0.5 mg/ml PYM notably elevated the apoptotic ratios of splenic cells and severely destroyed the configuration of spleen, compared to those of treatment with 0.5 mg/ml PYM alone. CONCLUSION Lidocaine exerts synergistic effects with PYM in promoting the apoptosis of mouse splenic endothelial cells, indicating that lidocaine possibly promotes the therapeutic effects of PYM in VMs treatment via synergistically enhancing the apoptosis of endothelial cells of malformed venous lesions.