Search

Objective To investigate motor and cardiovascular responses to dexmedetomidine or fentanyl in isoflurane-anaesthetized pigs. Study design Experimental, balanced, block randomized, two-group design. Animals A group of 16 crossbred pigs, 55 ± 8 days (mean ± standard deviation) old. Methods Deltoid electromyography (EMG) was recorded during isoflurane anaesthesia. Electrical stimulation using 5, 10, 20 and 40 mA of the distal right thoracic limb elicited a nociceptive withdrawal reflex (NWR), quantified by the area under the curve (AUC) for the simulation intensity versus EMG amplitude response curve. Latency to movement evoked by clamping a claw for maximum 60 seconds was noted. Arterial blood pressure and pulse rate were recorded. Data were sampled at baseline and during dexmedetomidine 0.25, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 4.0 and 8.0 μg kg–1 hour–1 or fentanyl 5, 10, 20, 40, 80 and 160 μg kg–1 hour–1 infusions. The influence of infusion rate on NWR AUC and spontaneous EMG was analysed using a mixed model, with p Results NWR AUC increased at fentanyl 5 μg kg–1 hour–1 but decreased at fentanyl 40, 80 and 160 μg kg–1 hour–1 and dexmedetomidine 4.0 and 8.0 μg kg–1 hour–1. All pigs at fentanyl 80 μg kg–1 hour–1, and three pigs at dexmedetomidine 8.0 μg kg–1 hour–1 had mechanical latencies greater than 60 seconds. Spontaneous EMG activity increased accompanied by visually evident ‘shivering’ at fentanyl 5, 10 and 20 μg kg–1 hour–1 but decreased at dexmedetomidine 2, 4 and 8 μg kg–1 hour–1. Clinically relevant effects of increasing infusion rates on blood pressure or pulse rate were not observed. Conclusion and clinical relevance If anaesthetic plane or antinociception is evaluated in pigs, response to claw clamping and NWR will not necessarily give uniform results when comparing drugs. If only one method is used, results should be interpreted cautiously.

Objective To evaluate the stability and repeatability of measures of mechanical (nociceptive) thresholds in piglets and to examine potentially confounding factors when using a hand held algometer. Study design Descriptive, prospective cohort. Animals Forty-four piglets from four litters, weighing 4.6 ± 1.0 kg (mean ± SD) at 2 weeks of age. Methods Mechanical thresholds were measured twice on each of 2 days during the first and second week of life. Data were analyzed using a repeated measures design to test the effects of behavior prior to testing, sex, week, day within week, and repetition within day. The effect of body weight and the interaction between piglet weight and behaviour were also tested. Piglet was entered into the model as a random effect as an additional test of repeatability. The effect of repeated testing was used to test the stability of measures. Pearson correlations between repeated measures were used to test the repeatability of measures. Variance component analysis was used to describe the variability in the data. Results Variance component analysis indicated that piglet explained only 17% of the variance in the data. All variables in the model (behaviour prior to testing, sex, week, day within week, repetition within day, body weight, the interaction between body weight and behaviour, piglet identity) except sex had a significant effect (p < 0.04 for all). Correlations between repeated measures increased from the first to the second week. Conclusions and Clinical relevance Repeatability was acceptable only during the second week of testing and measures changed with repeated testing and increased with increasing piglet weight, indicating that time (age) and animal body weight should be taken into account when measuring mechanical (nociceptive) thresholds in piglets. Mechanical (nociceptive) thresholds can be used both for testing the efficacy of anaesthetics and analgesics, and for assessing hyperalgesia in chronic pain states in research and clinical settings.