Local anaesthetic drugs can be used to perform a reversible blockade of motor and sensory nerves. Local anaesthetic drugs act by temporarily blocking sodium channels in excitable tissues such as nerves and muscle. This prevents the influx of sodium across the cell membrane, leading to an inhibition of action potential propagation along axons of nerves. Local anaesthetic can be used for infiltration. This is where the drug is infiltrated into an area of skin to block sensation and pain. There are many different local anaesthetic agents. The two commonly used drugs for local infiltration include lidocaine, also known as lignocaine and bupivacaine.
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