Research Information System
Neurological Research, vol.44, no.11, pp.995-1005, 2022 (SCI-Expanded)
Aim: To establish safe and straightforward anesthesia used in experiments, we examined the effect of ketamine, ketamine/xylazine, urethane, chloral hydrate, pentobarbital, isoflurane, dexmedetomidine, and dexmedetomidine/ketamine on epileptiform activity in genetic absence epilepsy (WAG\Rij) rats. Materials and Method: Sixty-three male WAG/Rij rats weighing (170–190 g) were used. Tripolar electrodes were inserted into the skull. After ECoG activities were recorded for each animal for 2 hours as controls, the anesthetic substances were administered and the recording continued for another 2 hours. All the anesthetic substances were administered intraperitoneally except isoflurane, which was administered by inhalation.The PowerLab system was used for electrophysiological activity recording and analysis. Results: The administration of ketamine (90 mg/kg), ketamine/xylazine (90/10 mg/kg), urethane (1.25 g/kg), chloral hydrate (175 mg/kg), pentobarbital (50–90 mg/kg), isoflurane (induction 5%, maintaining 3–4%), dexmedetomidine (0.5–1 mg/kg), and dexmedetomidine/ketamine (50/90 mg/kg), significantly decreased the total number of SWD, the total number of spikes, and the SWD duration (p < 0,05). The mean duration of SWD was not affected in pentobarbital (50–90 mg/kg), isoflurane (induction 5%, maintaining 3–4%), dexmedetomidine (0.5–1 mg/kg), and Dexmedetomidine/ketamine (50/90 mg/kg) groups (p > 0.05). Time scale showed a significant decrease in the total number of SWD in the first 20 minutes (P < 0.001) for all groups except dexmedetomidine (0.5–1 mg/kg), and dexmedetomidine/ketamine (50/90 mg/kg) groups (p > 0.05). Conclusion: The anesthetics we used significantly reduced the epileptiform activity immediately after the administration, except dexmedetomidine and dexmedetomidine/ketamine groups, so we recommend using dexmedetomidine and Dexmedetomidine/ketamine in electrophysiological studies accompanied by anesthetics.