Preclinical study demonstrates reversible, cooling-triggered local anesthesia via thermoresponsive implants in rats, suggesting an on-demand alternative to post-operative opioids.
Key Points
To develop an implantable thermoresponsive hydrogel system capable of on-demand, reversible bupivacaine release triggered by external cooling for post-operative pain relief.
Fabricated an implantable drug delivery device utilizing the cooling-triggered, reversible gel-to-sol phase transition of poly-N-isopropylacrylamide (PNIPAM).
Evaluated on/off release kinetics of a model dye and bupivacaine hydrochloride across multiple cooling and warming cycles in vitro and in vivo.
Assessed cooling-triggered sensory nerve blockade in Sprague-Dawley rats using behavioral thermal latency testing.
Application of cooling repeatedly triggered bupivacaine release across multiple cycles, with release rates markedly decreasing once the cooling stimulus was removed.
Sprague-Dawley rats demonstrated successful, reversible sensory sciatic nerve block upon cooling, verified by prolonged response times in thermal latency testing.