• Jenny Que, Li-Ching Lin, Shynn-Yeu Liu, Chin-Chen Chu, Kuo-Sheng Liu, Shung-Tai Ho, and Jhi-Joung Wang.
• Department of Radio-oncology, Chi-Mei Medical Center, Tainan, Taiwan, ROC.
• Acta Anaesthesiol Taiwan. 2005 Mar 1; 43 (1): 11-6.

BackgroundA long-acting analgesic may be particularly desirable in patients with long-lasting pain. In order to provide a long-acting analgesic effect, a novel buprenorphine ester, buprenorphine palmitate, was synthesized in our laboratory. The aim of the study was to evaluate whether the ester had a long-lasting effect.MethodsThe antinociceptive effects (dose-range studies) of buprenorphine HCl and buprenorphine palmitate were evaluated using the plantar test in Sprague-Dawley rats.ResultsWe found that intramuscular injection of buprenorphine HCl 0.05, 0.1 and 1 micromol/kg in rats produced dose-related antinociceptive effects of 2, 3, and 4 h, respectively. Intramuscular injection of buprenorphine palmitate 1, 5, and 10 micromol/kg also produced dose-related antinociceptive effects of 72, 76 and 78 h, respectively. On an equimolar basis of 1 micromol/kg, the durations of action of intramuscular buprenorphine HCl and buprenorphine palmitate were 4 and 72 h, respectively.ConclusionsIntramuscular injection of buprenorphine palmitate in rats produced a long-lasting antinociceptive effect which was much longer (18-fold) than did intramuscular buprenorphine HCl.

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