Evaluation of the effectiveness of different doses of ketamine / xylazine according to age and gender in rats

Abstract

Aim: To investigate the effect of different intraperitoneal (IP) doses of K/X on anesthesia according to age and gender.

Method: The rats were divided into three main groups according to the dose of K/X they received (GI:40/5, GII:60/7.5, and GIII: 90/10 mg/kg). These three groups were further subdivided into F and M. In each dose group, F and M groups were subdivided into five distinct age categories: 2-6 months, 7-12 months, 13-18 months, 19-24 months, and older than 25 months.

Results: There were differences in the muscle tone, pinch, palpebral and corneal reflexes at K/X administration doses of (GI), (GII), and (GIII) in ages and genders (Table 1). We detected that 20-25 minutes of superficial anesthesia was achieved with a dose of 40/5 mg/kg in 2-6 and 7-12 months rats both male and female. A dose of 60/7.5 mg/kg was sufficient for short-term (35-minute deep anesthesia) procedures in male rats aged 2-6 and 7-12 months. In addition, we found that 90/10 mg/kg ip dose was an effective anesthesia dose in all age groups and both genders.

Conclusion: Our findings indicate that the duration of anesthesia was prolonged with increasing age in all age groups. Furthermore, we observed that the duration of anesthesia was prolonged in males compared to females. We contend that a dose of 90/10 mg/kg represents the optimal balance between the induction of anesthesia and the total duration of anesthesia.