Future local anesthetics: Neurotoxins?

Abstract

This review article gives a look into the efforts being made to develop local anesthetics from new molecules, thus offering a better safety profile. Neurotoxins are a varied group of compounds, both chemically and pharmacologically. These encompass a wide group of drugs which acts on various ionic channels like sodium, potassium, calcium and chloride channels. The differences between current agents and the new group are presented. Tetrodotoxin and saxitoxin (STX) are the two more prominent groups of neurotoxins. Their characteristics are outlined.