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106Graham et al.abdominal wound sites. As anesthetic agents affect cardiac output and deep vascular and cutaneous microcirculation in many species, there was a need to identify an anesthetic regimen with minimal effects on baseline measurements. The effects of three anesthetic regimens on reflectance colorimetry, transepidermal water loss, and laser Doppler perfusion imaging were studied in unexposed control animals.
Methods:The following regimens were tested on six female Yorkshire swine (weanlings, 8-11 kg): repeated, separate intramuscular (i.m.) injections of ketamine HC1 and xylazine HC1 (K/X, at 20 ± 2 mg/kg and 2 ± 0.2 mg/kg, respectively), repeated i.m. injections of a tiletamine HC1/zolazepam HCl/xylazine HCl combination (T/X, at 2.2 mg/kg, 2.2 mg/kg, and 4.4 mg/kg, respectively), and the tiletamine HC1/zolazepam HC1/xylazine HC1 combination as a preanesthetic and isoflurane inhalation to maintain anesthesia (T/X/Iso; dosage of tiletamine HC1/ zolazepam HCl/xylazine HC1 was the same as listed above, with 2.5-3.0% isoflurane in oxygen at an initial flow rate of 2 L/min, reduced to 1.0%-1.5% at 0.8-1.0 L/min for maintenance). Each regimen was administered in three iterations within a week (every other day), with a minimum 1-week washout period between regimens.Results: The effect of the anesthetic regimens on bioengineering assessments of ventral abdominal skin was evaluated. For reflectance colorimetry, regimens T/X and K/X had a narrower range of readings over the three testing days than T/X/Iso. Either T/X or K/X was suitable, with T/X preferred because of a lesser blanching effect. T/X or T/X/Iso were preferred for transepidermal water loss readings, because overall they depressed transepidermal water loss rates less than did K/X. T/X, T/X/Iso, and K/X all affected cutaneous blood flow, with no clear preference. Conclusions: Overall, T/X produced the most consistent results with the fewest anesthetic effects.