{"title":"Validation of the anesthetic effect of a mixture of remimazolam, medetomidine, and butorphanol in three mouse strains.","authors":"Masaki Watanabe, Yuko Nikaido, Nobuya Sasaki","doi":"10.1538/expanim.23-0158","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Proper administration of anesthesia is indispensable for the ethical treatment of lab animals in biomedical research. Therefore, selecting an effective anesthesia protocol is pivotal for the design and success of experiments. Hence, continuous development and refinement of anesthetic agents are imperative to improve research outcomes and elevate animal welfare. \"Balanced anesthesia\" involves using multiple drugs to optimize efficacy while minimizing side effects. The medetomidine, midazolam, and butorphanol, called MMB, and medetomidine, alfaxalone, and butorphanol, called MAB, are popular in Japan. However, the drawbacks of midazolam, including its extended recovery time, and the narrow safety margin of MAB, have prompted research for suitable alternatives. This study replaced midazolam in the MMB combination with remimazolam (RMZ), which is noted for its ultra-short half-life. The resulting combination, called MRB, was effective in providing a wider safety margin compared to MAB while maintaining an anesthesia depth equivalent level to that of MMB in mice. Notably, MRB consistently exhibited better recovery scores after antagonist administration in contrast to MMB. Furthermore, the re-sedation phenomenon observed with MMB was not observed with MRB. The rapid metabolism of RMZ enables reliable anesthesia induction, circumventing the complications linked to MAB. Overall, MRB excelled in providing extended surgical anesthesia and swift post-antagonist recovery. These results highlight the potential of RMZ for broader animal research applications.</p>","PeriodicalId":12102,"journal":{"name":"Experimental Animals","volume":" ","pages":"223-232"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2000,"publicationDate":"2024-05-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11091355/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Experimental Animals","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1538/expanim.23-0158","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2024/1/20 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"VETERINARY SCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Proper administration of anesthesia is indispensable for the ethical treatment of lab animals in biomedical research. Therefore, selecting an effective anesthesia protocol is pivotal for the design and success of experiments. Hence, continuous development and refinement of anesthetic agents are imperative to improve research outcomes and elevate animal welfare. "Balanced anesthesia" involves using multiple drugs to optimize efficacy while minimizing side effects. The medetomidine, midazolam, and butorphanol, called MMB, and medetomidine, alfaxalone, and butorphanol, called MAB, are popular in Japan. However, the drawbacks of midazolam, including its extended recovery time, and the narrow safety margin of MAB, have prompted research for suitable alternatives. This study replaced midazolam in the MMB combination with remimazolam (RMZ), which is noted for its ultra-short half-life. The resulting combination, called MRB, was effective in providing a wider safety margin compared to MAB while maintaining an anesthesia depth equivalent level to that of MMB in mice. Notably, MRB consistently exhibited better recovery scores after antagonist administration in contrast to MMB. Furthermore, the re-sedation phenomenon observed with MMB was not observed with MRB. The rapid metabolism of RMZ enables reliable anesthesia induction, circumventing the complications linked to MAB. Overall, MRB excelled in providing extended surgical anesthesia and swift post-antagonist recovery. These results highlight the potential of RMZ for broader animal research applications.
期刊介绍:
The aim of this international journal is to accelerate progress in laboratory animal experimentation and disseminate relevant information in related areas through publication of peer reviewed Original papers and Review articles. The journal covers basic to applied biomedical research centering around use of experimental animals and also covers topics related to experimental animals such as technology, management, and animal welfare.