Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Iontophoresis-assisted pediatric transdermal delivery of ropivacaine to enhance anesthetic effect

Liqun Yu, Yanna Liu, Miao Sang

Department of Pediatrics, The Second People’s Hospital of Dong ying, Shandong Province 257300, China;

For correspondence:- Miao Sang Email: sangmiao666@sina.com

Accepted: 15 March 2021 Published: 30 April 2021

Citation: Yu L, Liu Y, Sang M. Iontophoresis-assisted pediatric transdermal delivery of ropivacaine to enhance anesthetic effect. Trop J Pharm Res 2021; 20(4):681-686 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v20i4.3

© 2021 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Purpose: To formulate novel transdermal patches of ropivacaine (RPV) and enhance its anesthetic activity using iontophoresis technique.

Methods: Solvent casting method was used for the development of the transdermal patches with the aid of hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) polymers. The patches were characterized for appearance, clarity, smoothness, thickness, average weight of patches, folding endurance, RPV uniformity, moisture absorption and tensile strength. The anesthetic effect of ropivacaine patches were evaluated in a healthy pediatric population divided into two groups. One group was merely applied with the patch while the other group received the patch using LidoSite applicator. The anesthetic effect was assessed based on hot pain, cool sensation and warm sensation.

Results: The patches were smooth and transparent, about 0.29 mm in thickness, having a tensile strength of 0.51 kg/cm² and showed in-vitro drug release of 68.94 to 96.83 %. The formulation did not exert any undesirable local skin effects, and produced minimum pain intensity. The depth of anesthesia was higher for the patch formulation with iontophoresis than for the conventional system.

Conclusion: The findings point to the superiority of RPV transdermal patches when applied with iontophoretic device as against the conventional application.

Keywords: Iontophoresis, Transdermal drug delivery, Ropivacaine, Local anesthesia, hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC), polyvinyl alchohol (PVA), LidoSite