The quality of sedation and analgesia on behavioral, cardio-pulmonary, and biochemical effects
of a novel pre-anesthetic medication, consisting of dexmedetomidine (DEX) alone Vs
dexmedetomidine-nalbuphine combination (DEX-NAL) in bucks undergoing total intravenous
anesthesia (TIVA) using ketamine and propofol (Ketofol) for induction and maintenance,
respectively. Six clinically healthy bucks were randomly assigned into two groups. The first
group was subjected to an intravenous injection of DEX (3 µg/kg BW), and the second one
was injected with DEX-NAL (DEX 3 µg/kg BW & nalbuphine 0.5 mg/kg BW). Anesthesia
was induced by intravenous ketamine (5 mg/kg BW) and maintained through intermittent bolus
of propofol (2 mg/kg BW). Sedative, analgesic, behavioral, cardio-pulmonary, and biochemical
effects of DEX and DEX-NAL were evaluated before any treatment (s) (baseline), after
premedication, after induction and at 5, 15, 30, 45, 60, 75, 90 and 120 minutes after drug
administration. The use of DEX-NAL combination provided a deeper, potent, rapid onset,
smooth induction and recovery, prolonged sedation, anesthesia, and total recovery time than
DEX alone. There were higher scores of behavioral parameters, and significant hemodynamic
and cardiovascular stability in DEX-NAL group than DEX group. This study concluded that
adding NAL to DEX, a novel pre-anesthetic regimen, before TIVA induced by Ketofol
improves the quality of anesthesia and recovery with acceptable cardiopulmonary and
biochemical outcomes in goats.