Introduction:
Experimental models of hemorrhagic shock (HS) in rats are important to test new treatments that may improve outcomes in humans, and general anesthesia is required during these experiments. The volatile anesthetic Isoflurane is known for its beneficial effects in rat HS models. Focusing on cardiovascular compensatory mechanisms, we wanted to evaluate Isoflurane versus the injectable anesthetic Pentobarbital in our rat model of mild HS (class 2). We hypothesize that Isoflurane during development of HS improves hemodynamics compared to Pentobarbital.
Methods:
Twelve Sprague-Dawley rats were initially anesthetized with an intraperitoneal (IP) injection of Pentobarbital (45 mg/kg) and intubated (1 L/min, FiO
2
0.25); heart rate (HR) was monitored by subcutaneous ECG needles. Femoral artery and vein were cannulated for continuous blood pressure measurement and delivery of fluids, respectively. In one group (n=7), anesthesia was continued with repeated IP injections of Pentobarbital (dose mg/kg), the other group (n=5) received continuous Isoflurane (1%). After 30 min of stabilization and administration of Heparin (100 IU/kg), HS was induced by removal of 1 ml of blood over 1 min via the femoral vein, repeated every 3 min until a volume of 5 ml of blood was removed. Mean arterial blood pressure (MAP) and HR were recorded and analyzed in LabChart.
Results:
During baseline, rats showed no significant differences in HR and MAP between both groups. After 5 ml of hemorrhage, both groups showed significant changes compared to baseline, with significantly higher MAP and HR in rats given only Pentobarbital.
Conclusions:
In our rat model of HS, Isoflurane dampens the physiologic response to compensate for mild hemorrhage. The cardiovascular response of rats in the Isoflurane group was a decrease of HR and MAP to every ml of hemorrhage, while rats given only Pentobarbital were able to maintain their MAP by raising their HR until decompensation.
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