The success of studies depends on several things. One is to keep your animal under anesthesia in optimal condition during manipulations. We give a brief summary of the different methods of anesthesia. There are several methods of performing anesthesia on small laboratory animals (small rodents).
Below are the pros and cons of the 3 most commonly used methods:
Pros
+ Quick and easy to apply (1 injection)
+ Choice between a lot of products (rat/mouse)
Cons
- Due to variation (male/female/breed) or calculated time for procedure, it can be necessary to re-adjust the anesthesia
- Injection anesthesia is IN-FLEXIBLE
- extra injection agent if deeper or longer anesthesia is required.
- too deep/long anesthesia when ‘over injected’ or injecting antagonist.
Pros
+ Flexible anesthesia ‘depth’/better control
+ Also for short(er) procedures
+ Different gasses (mixtures) possible
Cons
- No respiratory control (or pressure control)
- Adjusting could be relatively slow (if long tubes are used)
- A gas exhaust system is required
Pros
+ For shorter and longer procedures
+ Different gasses (mixtures) possible
+ Full respiratory/-support possible
+ Quick adjusting when using a pressure, volume and frequency driven ventilator.
+ P.E.E.P. Setting possible (standard AND open thorax)
+ Economical use of anesthetic gasses
Cons
- Intubation technique is considered to be “difficult”
You can find a protocol for the safe use of anesthesia equipment here.