Anesthesia with intraperitoneal tiletamine/zolazepam, xylazine, and tramadol in mice

A safe and reliable method for anesthetizing mice is very important for biomedical researches. The goals of this research were to find a safe intraperitoneal injection anesthesia protocol coupled with quick recovery for mice surgery. This study was carried out to compare the anesthesia effect of a combination of tiletamine/zolazepam-xylazine-tramadol (TZXT) and tiletamine/zolazepam-xylazine (TZX) combinations and of the TZXT protocol plus atipamezole, given 30 min later to reverse xylazine (TZXTA). Sixty mice were immobilized by TZX, TZXT, and TZXTA on three different occasions. The immobilization and analgesia scores, as well as baseline physiological parameters of the mice (heart rate and respiratory rate) were determined. All 3 combinations effectively induced anesthesia, and the mice assumed lateral recumbency within 5 min. Changes in physiological parameters after the administration of the drug combinations remained within biologically acceptable limits. Although both TZX and TZXT appeared to be effective intraperitoneal anesthetic combinations, TZXT provided significantly better analgesia with a longer duration than TZX. Atipamezole administration provided effective antagonism, and no adverse effects were observed in this study.