Journal of pharmaceutical sciences
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Local anesthetics play an important role in postoperative pain management in orthopedic joint procedures. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of an intraoperative extra-articular injection of poly(DL-lactic acid co castor oil 3:7), p(DLLA:CO) 3:7 loaded with 15% bupivacaine, for postoperative analgesia following knee arthroplasty. Prolonged release local anesthetic formulation was synthesized by mixing p(DLLA:CO) 3:7 with bupivacaine base. ⋯ The vocalizations during the hyperalgesia test increased compared with the control at 24 h. At 48 h, 3.667 ± 0.5138, p = 0.0076 vocalizations were recorded for the plain bupivacaine group versus 1.417 ± 0.5138, p < 0.0001 in the 15% polymer-bupivacaine formulation. Bupivacaine encapsulated in p(DLLA:CO) 3:7 extended the duration of the analgesia compared with plain drug in rats and could represent effective postoperative analgesic in orthopedic joint procedures.