Treatment of Local Anesthetic-Induced Cardiotoxicity Using Drug Scavenging Nanoparticles

Because of its ability to create structures of nanoscale dimension with large aggregate particle surface area-to-volume ratios, nanotechnology offers new opportunities to treat drug poisonings. Emulsion-based nanoparticles (diameter: 118.4 nm) extracted bupivacaine from the aqueous phase in a physiological salt solution and attenuated the drug's cardiotoxicity in guinea pig heart to a greater extent than did a macroemulsion (432.0 nm). Additionally, nanoparticles sequestered bupivacaine from the aqueous phase of human blood and merit further investigation in animal models of intoxication.