Analgesic Effect of Local Infiltration of the Surgical Wound Containing Levobupivacaine, Ibuprofen, and Epinephrine in Rats Undergoing Laparotomy

Abstract

Background: Inappropriate use of drugs and their combinations for analgesics has made it difficult to determine the optimal drug combinations for pain mangement. Aim: To reduce postoperative pain effectively and safely. Materials and methods: Laparotomy was performed in an adult rat under isoflurane anesthesia. During surgery, the surgical wounds were infiltrated with 50 μL solution containing 0.3% w/v levobupivacaine, 2 mg/mL ibuprofen, and 8 mg/mL epinephrine (treatment group) over the sutured muscle wound before skin closing, and compared to infiltration of that of the normal saline (vehicle group). The 10-fold higher dose of the same combination of medications was injected systemically as a control. Postoperative pain assessed by rodent grimace scales scoring. One-way ANOVA following Dunnett multiple comparisons test was used at 95% of confidence level. Results: There was decreased pain for the treatment group (p = 0.025, q = 4.527) and the control group (p = 0.031, q = 4.178) only 24 h after the end of the successful infiltration. The rodent GS scale scoring showed the fall in pain was started within three hours post-surgery in the treatment group. There was decreased pain in the treatment group (p = 0.048, q = 3.527) and the control group (p = 0.043, q = 3.891) only as compared to vehicle group 24 h after the end of the successful infiltration. Conclusion: The infiltration of the surgical wound with levobupivacaine, ibuprofen, and epinephrine combination was effective in the healing of wounds after laparotomy.

Deepening Theoretical Knowledge and Exploring the Properties of Local Anesthetics

“…Local anesthetics have numerous external factors that can modify their properties, such as adrenaline. When local anesthetics are injected with adrenaline, they increase their durability and even their potency, this is because adrenaline acts as a vasoconstrictor and reduces the systemic absorption of the anesthetic by the body and, consequently, its metabolization (Hsieh et al, 2022) (Choquette et al, 2017) (Korat & Kapupara, 2018).…”

Grimace scale, burrowing, and nest building for the assessment of post-surgical pain in mice and rats—A systematic review

“…Screening identified 18 mouse ( 25 , 33 , 54 – 69 ) and 29 rat ( 24 , 34 , 55 , 70 – 95 ) studies published between 2010 and 2020 that explored grimace scales in the post-surgical phase. The countries of origin of the first author comprise the United Kingdom and different European and North American countries for studies with an analysis of MGS.…”