Quaternary Lidocaine Derivatives: Past, Present, and Future

Abstract

Local anesthetics have the advantage of complete analgesia with fewer side effects compared to systemic analgesics. However, their clinical use is limited due to their short duration of action. Thus, local anesthetics with fast onset, long duration of action, selective nociceptive block, and low local and systemic toxicity are highly desirable. In the past electrophysiological studies, quaternary lidocaine derivatives (QLDs) showed these characteristics. Here, we review electrophysiological properties of QLDs and their pharmacodynamic characteristics to shed light on potential problems.

Keywords:

• lidocaine
• local anesthetics
• derivatives
• QX-314

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Science and Technology Major Project, Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China (No.2014ZX09101001-003), Beijing, China.