Near-infrared light-activated lidocaine microneedle patch for rapid local anesthesia

Authors
Shuailei Wang, Ze Qiang Zhao, Yumiao He, Bo Zhi Chen, Hongju Liu, Xin Dong Guo, Yuguang Huang


Lab

Journal
Theranostics

Abstract
To validate the rapid anesthetic performance of the LiH/MXene@MNs system in a clinically relevant context, we used a well-established plantar incision model (PIM) in rats, which closely mimics postoperative pain conditions. At 36 h after the operation, different treatment modalities were applied to the injured hind paw, including blank microneedles (B-MNs), lidocaine cream (LiH/Cream), passive lidocaine-loaded microneedles (LiH@MNs), MXene-only microneedles (MXene@MNs; MXene backing layer without lidocaine) with NIR irradiation (MXene@MNs + NIR), NIR-activated lidocaine-loaded photothermal microneedles (LiH/MXene@MNs + NIR), and local lidocaine injection (LiH-inj). Behavioral assessments were conducted using von Frey filaments for mechanical pain and the Hargreaves test for thermal pain at specific time points (Figure6A). To exclude the potential analgesic contribution from photothermal heating alone, MXene@MNs + NIR was used as a heat-only control under identical irradiation conditions. All groups were anesthetized with 2% isoflurane for 5 min during treatment, and the rats recovered within 5 min without affecting subsequent behavioral tests. In the von Frey test, the surgery group exhibited a pronounced decrease in paw withdrawal threshold (PWT), reflecting mechanical hypersensitivity. The B-MNs(no drug) failed to alleviate pain, confirming the absence of analgesic effects from the microneedle structure and its constituent materials. The LiH/Cream group showed a modest increase in PWT at 30 min post-treatment, with effects lasting approximately 15 min (Figure6B). LiH@MNs produced a faster onset (10 min) and a longer duration of analgesia (30 min), supporting enhanced transdermal delivery via microneedles. Notably, the heat-only control (MXene@MNs + NIR) did not improve PWT relative to the Surgery or B-MNs groups, indicating that NIR-induced heating alone does not account for analgesia. By comparison, LiH/MXene@MNs under NIR irradiation achieved a significantly faster onset (as early as 5 min) and sustained analgesic effects for up to 60 min, outperforming all other non-injected groups (Figure6C, D). This performance was comparable to the LiH-inj group, which began to relieve pain at 5 min and lasted for approximately 45 min. Importantly, LiH/MXene@MNs + NIR group restored near-baseline PWT values within 30 min, indicating robust and rapid suppression of mechanical allodynia. In the Hargreaves thermal test, similar trends were observed (Figure6E).

Keywords/Topics
rats; postoperative pain conditions; nir-activated lidocaine-loaded photothermal microneedles; behavioral assessments; von frey filaments; mechanical pain; thermal pain; photothermal heating; subsequent behavioral tests; mechanical hypersensitivity

BIOSEB Instruments Used:
Electronic Von Frey - Wireless (BIO-EVF-WRS),Electronic Von Frey 5 with embedded camera (BIO-EVF5),Von Frey Filaments (BIO-VF-M)

Source :

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC13080483/

Produits associés

Filaments de Von Frey

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