Iontophoretic delivery of lignocaine in healthy volunteers: effect of concentration of epinephrine on local anesthesia

The current clinical study focuses on the effect of concentration of epinephrine on the anesthetic activity of Lignocaine delivered by iontophoresis. The combination of drugs is supposed to lower the intensity of pain with lowering in various physical stimuli. The patches for drug reservoir (Lignocaine and Epinephrine) and electrolyte were formulated by casting solvent and evaporation method. The controlled, randomized trial was conducted on 30 subjects (15 male and 15 females) with mean age 52 years and mean height 158 cm. The total population was divided into 3 random groups and treated with varying concentration of epinephrine as AT1 (2% Lignocaine + 1:80000), AT2 (2% Lignocaine + 1:160000), AC (2% Lignocaine). The Lignocaine epinephrine patches were formulated successfully by casting solvent and evaporation method. AT2 group gave significantly less pain intensity than AT1 and AC group. The cool and warm sensation observed for AT2 group was significantly lowered than AT1 and AC group. All the formulation showed no significant skin reaction. High epinephrine concentration combined with Lignocaine offers significant advantage for pain relief. As concentration of Epinephrine increases the pain relieving effect also increases