Combining melatonin with dexmedetomidine improves anesthesia in rats
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Updated: Jun 25, 2025

Acquisition of Resting-State Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Data in the Rat
Published on: August 28, 2021
Joaquín Cogo Pagella1, María F Rodríguez1, Fabricio Frisina1
1Institute of Basic and Experimental Sciences (IBES, SeCyT-UM), University of Morón, Argentina.
Abstract:
Melatonin (ML) and dexmedetomidine (DM) are used separately as anesthetic premedication or as an anesthetic in humans and laboratory animals. In this study, we aimed to investigate the anesthetic properties of both drugs combined. The anesthetic effects of several combinations of ML (50 and 100 mg/kg) and DM (50 and 100 μg/kg) were evaluated in rats by observing behavioral manifestations and recording the duration and depth of anesthesia. Five anesthetic intervals were established according to the loss and recovery of reflexes. While each individual drug did not induce an appropriate anesthetic effect at the tested doses, ML50 + DM100, ML100 + DM50 and ML100 + DM100 combinations resulted in surgical anesthesia intervals of 60 to 360 min. Together, our results point that the use of ML allows to decrease the dose of DM, reducing the unwanted anesthetic effects of this α2-agonist.
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