Increased toxicity of the antitumor drug cyclophosphamide in mice in the presence of the volatile anesthetic agent halothane

Abstract

Exposure of mice to 0.5% halothane in air, which is close to a maintenance concentration in man, after an IP dose of cyclophosphamide produced an increase in the lethality of cyclophosphamide. The LD50 (30 day) for cyclophosphamide without halothane was 251 mg/kg; with 2 h subsequent exposure to halothane it was 152 mg/kg; and with 20 h subsequent exposure to halothane it was 158 mg/kg. The median survival time of mice receiving cyclophosphamide at doses between 137 and 240 mg/kg was more than 30 days in the absence of halothane, 12 days with 2 h halothane, and 10.5 days with 20 h halothane exposure. Survival of mice was decreased irrespective of whether 2 h halothane exposure preceded or followed cyclophosphamide administration. Separation of cyclophosphamide administration and preexposure to halothane by breathing air for 1 h abolished the decrease in survival. Halothane exposure for 2 h after cyclophosphamide had no effect on the antitumor activity of cyclophosphamide. Total-body clearance of cyclophosphamide in mice exposed to halothane was 60 ml/min/kg, as against 188 ml/min/kg in nonexposed mice. No change was produced by halothane in the area under the plasma concentration-time curve over 2 h for 4-hydroxycyclophosphamide following cyclophosphamide administration. The reason for the increased lethality of cyclophosphamide in the presence of halothane could not be determined. There was no increase in leukopenia caused by cyclophosphamide and no increase in bladder toxicity, in liver toxicity, in renal toxicity, or in the penetration of cyclophosphamide into the brain. The study, together with reports of increased toxicity in patients receiving cancer chemotherapy in close proximity to general anesthesia, should alert physicians and others to the possibility of an interaction between volatile anesthetic agents and chemotherapeutic drugs.