thiopental and thiobarbital

Prolonged, stable, non-recovery anaesthesia is required for the assessment of the effects of novel compounds on the cardiovascular system. A comparison of injectable anaesthetic agents and combinations (thiobarbital, fentanyl-fluanisone and midazolam, propofol, fentanyl-fluanisone and propofol, and alphaxalone/alphadolone) was made in laboratory rats and the following parameters assessed over 3 h: blood pressure, heart rate and rhythm, respiration rate and depth, analgesia, ease of induction and maintenance of anaesthesia. It was found that propofol, with fentanyl-fluanisone premedication, provided stress-free induction, easily controlled anaesthesia, good analgesia and muscle relaxation for surgery, for up to 3 h duration. Heart rate, blood pressure and respiration remained stable and within normal limits during this time. The other anaesthetics/combinations assessed did not rate as highly in these respects. Propofol, following fentanyl-fluanisone premedication, would appear to be a useful and safe anaesthetic for use in rodents, which avoids significant effects on heart rate or blood pressure.

Topics: Anesthesia, Intravenous; Anesthetics; Animals; Blood Pressure; Butyrophenones; Female; Fentanyl; Heart Rate; Male; Midazolam; Pentobarbital; Pregnanediones; Propofol; Rats; Respiration; Thiopental

Methylene blue (MB) plus light, in the presence of oxygen, mediates formation of 8-hydroxyguanine in DNA. The yield of 8-hydroxyguanine may be as much as from 2 to 4% of the guanines present. The results presented here show that treatment of supercoiled plasmid DNA with methylene blue plus light causes single-stranded nicks. However, single-stranded nicking occurs approximately 17-fold less frequently than does formation of 8-hydroxyguanine. The nicking rate is reduced in the presence of Mg ion but is not prevented by inhibitors of the iron-catalyzed Fenton reaction or by scavengers of hydroxyl free radicals. Extensive exposure of DNA to light in the presence of MB produces no detectable thiobarbital reactive material thus implicating that single strand nicking does not occur by hydroxyl free radical attack on deoxyribose. Formation of 8-hydroxyguanine is apparently not dependent upon intercalative binding of MB to DNA, since it is formed in polydeoxyguanylic acid.

Topics: 8-Hydroxy-2'-Deoxyguanosine; Catalase; Deferoxamine; Deoxyguanosine; DNA Damage; DNA, Superhelical; Free Radicals; Hydroxides; Hydroxyl Radical; Light; Magnesium; Mannitol; Methylene Blue; Plasmids; Thiopental; Thiourea

We experienced an autopsy case in which a 29-year-old woman committed suicide by parenteral application of a neuromuscular blocker combined with thiobarbital. These medicines were easily accessible to the victim who was an anesthesiologist in a hospital. Paralyzing the respiratory muscles the usual dose of neuromuscular blockers can cause death unless a breathing apparatus is used. Unusual medicines given in small doses are difficult to detect in the autopsy materials. In our case in the course of forensic investigation we successfully identified the traces of a neuromuscular blocker by mass spectrometry.

Topics: Adult; Androstane-3,17-diol; Female; Humans; Neuromuscular Blocking Agents; Pipecuronium; Piperazines; Suicide; Thiopental

DPI 201-106 (4-[3-(4-diphenylmethyl-1-piperazinyl)-2-hydroxypropoxy]-1H-indole -2- carbonitrile) was given intravenously to anaesthetized male rats. DPI caused an increase in left ventricular dP/dt (LV dP/dt), giving a significant increase at 0.03 mumol/kg. At this dose DPI had no effect on either mean arterial pressure (MAP) or heart rate (HR). At higher doses, MAP decreased transiently. At 0.3 and 1 mumol/kg, HR was decreased. The results indicate that DPI produces positive inotropic and negative chronotropic effects in the anaesthetized rat.

Topics: Animals; Blood Pressure; Cardiotonic Agents; Heart Rate; Male; Piperazines; Rats; Rats, Inbred Strains; Thiopental

Topics: Alkaloids; Chromatography, Gas; Evaluation Studies as Topic; Indicators and Reagents; Nicotiana; Plants, Toxic; Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet; Thiopental

Glycogen phosphorylase activity was determined in rat livers obtained by laparotomy in thiobarbital (Inactin, PROMONTA) anaesthesia induced by injection of the drug via a polyethylene catheter into a jugular vein as described previously [Németh et al. 1983a]. Intact rats and animals exposed to open field stress without or after i.p. injection of the alpha blocker phentolamine (Regitine, CIBA; 20 mg kg-1, 90 min before stress) or the beta blocker propranolol (Inderal, ICI; 2 mg kg-1, 30 min before stress) were studied. In stressed animals a net increase of phosphorylase activity was observed. This response was abolished after alpha blockade, while after beta blockade it was potentiated. In a further series on animals subjected to the same type of anaesthesia, the activating effect of immobilization stress on phosphorylase activity was confirmed in both fed and fasted animals, the response of the latter issuing from a lower initial level but being of the same extent as in the fed rats.

Topics: Animals; Fasting; Injections, Intravenous; Liver; Male; Phentolamine; Phosphorylases; Propranolol; Rats; Rats, Inbred Strains; Stress, Physiological; Thiopental

Topics: Adult; Aged; Arthritis, Rheumatoid; Female; Hemiplegia; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Spectrometry, Fluorescence; Thiopental

Topics: Carotid Artery Diseases; Carotid Artery, Internal; Coronary Disease; Endarterectomy; Humans; Hypothermia, Induced; Male; Middle Aged; Myocardial Revascularization; Thiopental

Topics: Analgesia; Anesthesia; Anesthesia, Obstetrical; Extraction, Obstetrical; Female; Humans; Labor, Obstetric; Obstetrics; Oxytocin; Pregnancy; Thiopental; Vacuum

Topics: Barbiturates; Thiobarbiturates; Thiopental

Topics: Antithyroid Agents; Barbital; Methylthiouracil; Thiazoles; Thiobarbiturates; Thiopental; Thiourea; Thyroid Gland

Topics: Disease Management; Hyperthyroidism; Thiopental; Thiouracil; Thyroid Gland

Topics: Biochemical Phenomena; Thiopental

Topics: Barbital; Barbiturates; Hyperthyroidism; Propylthiouracil; Thiopental; Thiouracil; Thyroid Gland

Topics: Barbital; Humans; Hyperthyroidism; Thiopental; Thyroid Gland