ANESTHETIC PROTOCOLS AND POST-ANESTHETIC CARE: IMPORTANCE IN PAIN CONTROL AND IN ENSURING RELIABLE AND ETHICAL RESULTS IN EXPERIMENTAL ANIMAL RESEARCH

INTRODUCTION: When an experimental procedure with animals requires anesthetic procedures, knowledge of the animal model used and possible protocols is essential to ensure a safe procedure with adequate pain control. Among the stages of these procedures, anesthetic and post-anesthetic management requires attention from the handler and care must be taken with parameters such as: temperature, hydration, heart rate, respiratory rate and pain. The lack of adequate monitoring or incorrect management during post-anesthesia recovery can lead to the loss of the models used, compromising important results. In this research, anesthetic procedures and post-anesthetic management were mapped in experiments with animal models. METHODS: A bibliographic review was carried out by searching the PubMed and Scielo databases using the following descriptors: “rat post anesthesia care”, “rat anesthesia recovery”. From the terms, 86 and 339 results were found, respectively, between 2018 and 2023 published in English. Reviews, books and notes were excluded, resulting in only 14 works that served as the basis for this review. During the refinement and analysis, it was also used as a selection criterion whether the terms were described in the title or abstract and whether there was a description of the protocols used in the scope of the work, pain monitoring or data on recovery. RESULTS: Of the selected articles, several protocols relating to pre-anesthetic medication and anesthesia are described, while details regarding post-anesthetic management and recovery are incipient. Anesthetic protocols are described based on the type of procedure, duration, degree of invasiveness and manipulation. Intravenous and dissociative anesthesia protocols are those with the longest recovery time and adverse effects. However, inhalation anesthesia protocols showed better anesthetic maintenance and recovery. During recovery, the most observed parameters were temperature, blood glucose, degree of hydration, heart rate, respiratory rate and pain. No other data were found, such as electrolyte dosage, oximetry and blood pressure. CONCLUSION: The choice of the anesthetic protocol must consider not only the effectiveness in inducing and maintaining anesthesia, but also the safety and well-being of the animals during recovery. An in-depth understanding of these aspects is essential to guarantee reliable and ethical results in research involving animals.