L’associazione chetamina-medetomidina vs chetamina-dexmedetomidina nell’anestesia generale in ratti wistar strain sottoposti a craniotomia

Anaesthetic protocols for surgical experimental procedures should be accurate for every kind of research and for each species utilized, in order to have a high survival index. In the rat (Rattus norvegicus), to avoid stress to the subject and for ease way of administration, simple intramuscular or endoperitoneal inoculation are often used, where a combination of a dissociative agent with an alfa-2 agonist has shown to be very effective. In a surgical study where craniotomy had to be performed, 42 rats received endoperitoneally an association of ketamine and medetomidine (75 mg/Kg and 0,5 mg/kg respectively) and 36 rats received ketamine and dexmedetomidine (75 mg/Kg and 0,25 mg/Kg). Onset time was significantly shorter (118’’±12’’ vs 246’’±27’’) and duration of anaesthesia longer (363’±43’ vs 303’±38’) in the rats receiving medetomidine compared with the rats receiving dexmedetomidine, showing that also the “L“ enantiomer of medetomidine plays an important anaesthetic role which needs further investigation.