previously described by Maguire et al. [24 (link)]. Briefly, hydrogenated soy phosphatidylcholine (Avanti Polar
Lipids, Alabaster, AL) and cholesterol were combined in a 7:3 M ratio in a round
bottom flask to create a lipid and dried via rotovap under vacuum. The lipid
film was re-suspended with distilled water and incubated while spinning for 2 h
at 55 °C. The resulting solution was snap frozen and lyophilized
overnight. The lipid was then suspended in 70 mg/mL bupivacaine-HCl and extruded
through polycarbonate membranes 21 times to produce small 200-μm
unilamellar liposomes. The solution was eluted through a Sephadex G-50 size
exclusion column with 0.9% saline to purify the liposomes.