Layton Rachel, Beggs David S, Fisher Andrew, Mansell Peter, Layton Daniel, Durr Peter A, Allen Teegan, Taylor Grace, Kelly Michael L, Williams David T, Stanger Kelly J
CSIRO, Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness, Geelong, VIC 3219, Australia.
Melbourne Veterinary School, Faculty of Science, University of Melbourne, Werribee, VIC 3030, Australia.
Animals (Basel). 2025 Jan 17;15(2):258. doi: 10.3390/ani15020258.
Anaesthesia is sometimes required for the effective restraint of laboratory pigs for sample collection. Yet, anaesthesia can initiate a range of physiological disruptions that can increase variability in study data and lead to poorer animal welfare. Judicious use of anaesthesia can mitigate experimental, human safety, and animal welfare concerns, but it does not eliminate the potential for adverse effects. The use of reversal agents can shorten recovery time and reduce the physiological impacts of anaesthesia but can also cause additional side effects. We, therefore, trialled the use of low-dose atipamezole (0.12 mg/kg) for the antagonism of xylazine in laboratory pigs anaesthetised using a combination of xylazine and zolazepam/tiletamine. We measured time to recovery, selected clinical variables, recovery characteristics, and behaviours to investigate if a low dose of antagonist decreased recovery time and reduced the physiological impacts of anaesthesia whilst avoiding adverse negative side effects. We categorised side effects and behaviours as having either a low or high negative welfare impact based on the potential risk of injury and whether behaviours were displayed before or after return to consciousness. Collectively, our results indicated that while the use of low-dose atipamezole decreased recovery time and improved thermoregulation in most pigs, it introduced and exacerbated adverse side effects and behaviours that can lead to poorer welfare outcomes for laboratory pigs.
有时需要对实验猪进行麻醉，以便有效地固定它们以采集样本。然而，麻醉会引发一系列生理紊乱，这会增加研究数据的变异性，并导致动物福利变差。明智地使用麻醉可以减轻实验、人类安全和动物福利方面的担忧，但并不能消除产生不良反应的可能性。使用苏醒剂可以缩短恢复时间并减少麻醉对生理的影响，但也可能会引起额外的副作用。因此，我们试验了使用低剂量的阿替美唑（0.12毫克/千克）来拮抗在使用赛拉嗪和唑拉西泮/替来他明联合麻醉的实验猪中的赛拉嗪。我们测量了恢复时间、选定的临床变量、恢复特征和行为，以研究低剂量的拮抗剂是否能缩短恢复时间并减少麻醉对生理的影响，同时避免不良的负面副作用。我们根据受伤的潜在风险以及行为是在恢复意识之前还是之后表现出来，将副作用和行为分类为具有低或高的负面福利影响。总体而言，我们的结果表明，虽然使用低剂量的阿替美唑缩短了大多数猪的恢复时间并改善了体温调节，但它引发并加剧了不良副作用和行为，这可能导致实验猪的福利结果变差。
