Prolonged duration local anesthesia from tetrodotoxin-enhanced local anesthetic microspheres

There is interest in developing prolonged duration local anesthesics. Here we examine whether tetrodotoxin (TTX) can be used to prolong the block from bupivacaine microspheres with and without dexamethasone. Rats received sciatic nerve blocks with 75 mg of microspheres containing 0.05% (w/w) TTX, 50% (w/w) bupivacaine and/or 0.05% (w/w) dexamethasone. 0.1% (w/w) TTX microspheres were also tested. The carrier fluid contained 1:100,000 epinephrine. Nociceptive and motor blockade of the hindpaw were quantified. Nerves and adjacent muscles were harvested 2 weeks after injection for histological assessment by light microscopy. The median nociceptive block duration in hours from the microsphere groups were: bupivacaine = 6.2, 0.05% TTX = 0, bupivacaine + TTX = 35.3, bupivacaine + dexamethasone = 31.3, TTX + dexamethasone = 8.1, TTX + bupivacaine + dexamethasone = 221.7. Some animals receiving particles containing 0.05% TTX had deficits in the uninjected extremity; all animals receiving 0.1% (w/w) TTX particles died. Pockets of particles were associated with localized inflammation, and all samples showed some evidence of myotoxicity in the vicinity of the injection. The nerves themselves appeared intact. In summary, coencapsulation of TTX in controlled release devices containing bupivacaine and dexamethasone resulted in very prolonged nerve blocks. As formulated here, this preparation had a narrow margin of safety. While the myotoxicity appears consistent with the well-known reversible myotoxicity associated with local anesthetics, its long-term significance remains to be established.