Laboratory animals
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Comparative Study
Induction of anaesthesia with desflurane and isoflurane in the rabbit.
The characteristics of two techniques of face-mask induction of desflurane anaesthesia (rapid or slow) were compared with the effects of slow isoflurane induction in five New Zealand White (NZW) rabbits. Slow induction used stepwise increments in vapour setting of 2% for desflurane and 0.5% for isoflurane at 30 s intervals. All animals were anaesthetized using each technique according to a randomized block design with one week between treatments. ⋯ Slow induction with desflurane was tolerated best, with little or no deleterious behavioural or physiological effects, however excessively prolonged induction times (loss of righting reflex 337+/-160 s) limits the application of this method. Desflurane, administered rapidly, appears to be a more suitable agent than isoflurane. However, as with isoflurane, anaesthesia should only be induced following oxygen supplementation.