The effects of pentobarbital, ketamine–pentobarbital and ketamine–xylazine anesthesia in a rat myocardial ischemic reperfusion injury model

To achieve reliable experimental data, the side-effects of anesthetics should be eliminated. Since anesthetics exert a variety of effects on hemodynamic data and incidence of arrhythmias, the selection of anesthetic agents in a myocardial ischemic reperfusion injury model is very important. The present study was performed to compare hemodynamic variables, the incidence of ventricular arrhythmias, and infarct size during 30 min of ischemia and 120 min of reperfusion in rats using pentobarbital, ketamine–pentobarbital or ketamine–xylazine anaesthesia. A total of 30 rats were randomly divided into three groups. In group P, pentobarbital (60 mg/kg, intraperitoneally [IP]) was used solely; in group K–P, ketamine and pentobarbital (50 and 30 mg/kg, respectively, IP) were used in combination; and in group K–X, ketamine and xylazine (75 and 5 mg/kg, respectively, IP) were also used in combination. Hemodynamic data and occurrence of ventricular arrhythmias were recorded throughout the experiments. The ischemic area was measured by triphenyltetrazolium chloride staining. The combination of ketamine–xylazine caused bradycardia and hypotension. The greatest reduction in mean arterial blood pressure during ischemia was in the P group. The most stability in hemodynamic parameters during ischemia and reperfusion was in the K–P group. The infarct size was significantly less in the K–X group. Whereas none of the rats anesthetized with ketamine–xylazine fibrillated during ischemia, ventricular fibrillation occurred in 57% of the animals anesthetized with pentobarbital or ketamine–pentobarbital. Because it offers the most stable hemodynamic parameters, it is concluded that the ketamine–pentobarbital anesthesia combination is the best anesthesia in a rat ischemia reperfusion injury model.