Cl. Eisenhauer et al., NORMAL PHYSIOLOGICAL VALUES OF NEONATAL PIGS AND THE EFFECTS OF ISOFLURANE AND PENTOBARBITAL-ANESTHESIA, Laboratory animal science, 44(3), 1994, pp. 245-252
The newborn piglet is becoming increasingly popular as a model for neo
natal studies. However data on normal physiologic baseline values and
the influence of anesthesia on these values are scarce. In this study,
we describe husbandry, surgical, and experimental methods used to est
ablish a conscious, chronically catheterized neonatal piglet model, wh
ich enabled study of unrestrained piglets recovered from surgery and a
nesthesia, for up to 10 days after separation from the sow Chronic cat
heterization allowed repeated experiments to be performed in the same
animals, reducing the number of animals needed for study Presented her
ein are baseline resting hemodynamic and blood chemistry data and circ
ulating hormone measurements of vasopressin, plasma renin activity, ad
renocorticotrophic hormone, cortisol, epinephrine, norepinephrine, and
dopamine for piglets in the first 2 weeks of life. Also, in two serie
s of experiments, the effects of the gas anesthetic isoflurane and the
injectable anesthetic pentobarbital on these baseline values were inv
estigated. Results indicate that both pentobarbital and isoflurane eli
cit changes in blood pressure, heart rate, vasopressin, plasma renin a
ctivity and ventilatory drive that should be considered when using eit
her of these anesthetic agents in acute studies.