Lack of effect of barbiturate and ketamine anesthesia on renal blood flow in chronically instrumented rats prepared for micropuncture.

Fifteen-micrometer microspheres were used to study renal blood flow in rats which had been cannulated 3 or more days previously. Renal blood flow was assessed while the animals were conscious, after induction of anesthesia with inactin, pentobarbital, or ketamine, and after preparation for renal micropuncture. Blood pressure fell with anesthesia when barbiturates were used and was restored by tracheostomy. In conscious rats, right and left renal blood flows averaged 4.70 +/- 0.24 and 4.64 +/- 0.23 mL/min per gram kidney weight, respectively. These values were essentially unchanged following anesthesia with all agents used and they were also unaffected by surgery. We conclude that, in chronically prepared rats, renal blood flow is not affected by anesthesia or by micropuncture surgery.