Preceding sevoflurane inhalation in rats reduces the stress of intraperitoneal injection both in inexperienced experimenters and subject rats.

In this study, we found that sevoflurane inhalation in rats prior to intraperitoneal injection decreased stress in both inexperienced experimenters and subject rats. Inexperienced experimenters anaesthetised male Sprague Dawley rats by intraperitoneal injection of anaesthetics, with or without preceding sevoflurane inhalation. Analysis using a visual analogue scale indicated that participating experimenters felt less stress when they performed intraperitoneal injections on rats after subjecting them to sevoflurane inhalation than when performing intraperitoneal injections alone. Plasma corticosterone concentrations of the anaesthetised subject rats were lower when the intraperitoneal injection was preceded by sevoflurane inhalation. Thus, our results demonstrated that it is advisable for inexperienced experimenters, until they gain confidence with experience, to perform sevoflurane inhalation on male rats before intraperitoneal injections.