Erratum: Effects of intra-articular administration of lidocaine, mepivacaine, and the preservative methyl parahydroxybenzoate on synovial fluid biomarkers of horses.

This is a correction to a research study on the effects of injecting lidocaine, mepivacaine, and the preservative methyl parahydroxybenzoate into the joints of horses. The corrections involve amounts used, statistical significance levels, and discussion interpretations.

Corrections to Experimental Procedure

• In the original research, the scientists conducted two experiments on horses’ joints to measure the impact of different substances on synovial fluid biomarkers. The corrected article points out a crucial misprint in the procedure for the second experiment: it should read that 0.1% (not 1%) methyl parahydroxybenzoate was administered into the left middle carpal (MCJ) joint of the horses.
• Additionally, the procedures for experiment 1 were clarified. In this experiment, lidocaine was infused into 6 MCJs (3 right and 3 left), mepivacaine was injected into 6 MCJs (3 right and 3 left), and LRS (control joints) were injected into 12 MCJs (6 right and 6 left).

Explanation of Statistical Significance

• The criterion for statistical significance has been clarified. In the original article, the level of statistical significance was set where P < 0.008 to accommodate the Bonferroni correction. This adjustment is standard practice when making multiple comparisons to control for Type I error, which is the incorrect rejection of a true null hypothesis.

Clarifications to the Discussion

• The discussion of study findings also includes two updates. Firstly, the inflammatory responses were identified as more severe in the horse’s joints that received lidocaine injections compared to those injected with mepivacaine. This is a critical conclusion as it highlights the greater inflammatory potential of lidocaine.
• Secondly, lidocaine-injected joints demonstrated both a delayed and a more significant peak in SF Coll2-1 concentration. SF Coll2-1 is a biomarker indicating cartilage degradation, so this updated finding suggests that lidocaine could stimulate ongoing severe inflammation in the horse’s joints.

The amendment to the research article can be accessed from the AVMA journals website.