Anesthesia Response in Handled and Non-Handled Laboratory Rats

Abstract

The goal for these species is to reduce the stress the rats may be exposed to in order to obtain improved physiologic results prior to and during sedation. Assessing anesthesia risks and identifying potential problems is important for potential complications or contraindications to a procedure. In previous years, during ovariectomy procedures on rats, the rats would not readily take to sedation. This could result in redosing the animal which increases the risk of complications or removing the animal from the project altogether. Our theory is that a highly anxious and stressed rat will be less vulnerable to the effect of KXA used as a sedative. Our project documents and tests this theory of anxiety and anesthetic induction failure to ensure future success prior to and during anesthetic induction. Our work desensitizes eight treatment rats by handling prior to testing by petting, holding, and talking to them. We then test anxiety levels using the elevated plus maze which tests rat anxiety. Introducing more than the typical momentary touch suggests that rat handling plays a role in the reduction of stress prior to undergoing and while under anesthesia.