Endotracheal isoflurane anesthesia for chick auditory surgery

Survival surgeries upon chicks are commonly used in auditory research. Appr opriate anesthesia is usually obtained with intramuscular or intraperitonea l injections of systemic agents. These techniques have several drawbacks, i ncluding delayed onset of anesthesia, difficulty in adjusting the dosage to accomodate individual animals' different responses, prolonged recovery tim es, and in some cases substantial mortality. We present a technique of admi nistering inhaled isoflurane via an endotracheal tube which we have used fo r over a year with excellent results. With this agent, onset of deep anesth esia is very rapid, dosage can be titrated readily, overdosage is survivabl e, complete recovery occurs within a few minutes and mortality is rare. Thi s technique may be valuable for other auditory scientists performing surviv al surgery in avian species. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights rese rved.