Abstract

Sensory-selective local anesthesia has long been a key goal in local anesthetic development. For example, it allows women to be pain-free during labor without compromising their ability to push. Here we show that prolonged sensory-selective nerve block can be produced by specific concentrations of surfactants—such as are used to enhance drug flux across skin—in combination with QX-314, a lidocaine derivative that has relative difficulty penetrating nerves. For example, injection of 25 mM QX-314 in 30 mM octyltrimethylammonium bromide (OTAB) lasted up to 7 h. Sensory selectivity was imparted to varying degrees by cationic, neutral, and anionic surfactants, and also was achieved with another lidocaine derivative, QX-222. Simultaneous injection of OTAB at a s.c. injection site remote from the sciatic nerve did not result in prolonged sensory-specific nerve blockade from QX-314, suggesting that the observed effect is due to a local interaction between the surfactant and the lidocaine derivative, not a systemic effect.