title: Effects of intramuscular administration of tiletamine-zolazepam with and without sedative pretreatment on plasma and serum biochemical values and glucose tolerance test results in Japanese black bears (Ursus thibetanus japonicus).
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To establish a safe anesthetic protocol with little effect on blood biochemical values and IV glucose tolerance test (IVGTT) results in Japanese black bears (Ursus thibetanus japonicus).
  
  
  METHODS
  16 captive female Japanese black bears (5 to 17 years of age).
  
  
  METHODS
  Bears were randomly assigned to 4 treatment groups (4 bears/group) in which various treatment combinations were administered via blow dart: tiletamine HCl and zolazepam HCl (9 mg/kg) alone (TZ), TZ (6 mg/kg) and acepromazine maleate (0.1 mg/kg), TZ (6 mg/kg) and butorphanol tartrate (0.3 mg/kg), or TZ (3 mg/kg) and medetomidine HCl (40 μg/kg). Glucose injection for the IVGTT was started 130 minutes after TZ administration. Blood samples were obtained before, at, and intermittently after glucose injection for measurement of biochemical variables as well as plasma glucose and serum insulin concentrations during the IVGTT. Rectal temperature, pulse rate, and respiratory rate were assessed every 15 minutes during the experiment.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Induction and maintenance of anesthesia were safely achieved with little adverse effect on cardiopulmonary function when each of the 4 anesthetic regimens was used, although mild hypothermia was induced. No difference was evident between treatment groups in blood biochemical values. Blood glucose and insulin concentration profiles during the IVGTT were similar among the bears given TZ, with or without acepromazine or butorphanol, but hyperglycemia and hypoinsulinemia developed in bears given TZ with medetomidine.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  All 4 anesthetic regimens yielded chemical restraint without affecting clinical and biochemical values in bears, but medetomidine appeared to affect IVGTT results. For this reason, medetomidine should not be used when anesthetizing bears for IVGTTs.
authors: Graduate School of Veterinary Medicine, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan.
authors: Akari
authors: A
authors: Kamine
authors: Michito
authors: M
authors: Shimozuru
authors: Haruki
authors: H
authors: Shibata
authors: Toshio
authors: T
authors: Tsubota
mesh_terms: D000075:Acepromazine / Q000008:administration & dosage; D000777:Anesthetics / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D000818:Animals; D001774:Blood Chemical Analysis / Q000662:veterinary; D002077:Butorphanol / Q000008:administration & dosage; D050260:Carbohydrate Metabolism / Q000187:drug effects*; D004338:Drug Combinations; D005260:Female; D005951:Glucose Tolerance Test / Q000662:veterinary; D006993:Hypnotics and Sedatives / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D007103:Immobilization / Q000662:veterinary; D007273:Injections, Intramuscular / Q000662:veterinary; D020926:Medetomidine / Q000008:administration & dosage; D013992:Tiletamine / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D001503:Ursidae / Q000502:physiology*; D015041:Zolazepam / Q000008:administration & dosage*
chemical_list: D000777:Anesthetics; D004338:Drug Combinations; D006993:Hypnotics and Sedatives; C006131:tiletamine, zolazepam drug combination; D013992:Tiletamine; D000075:Acepromazine; D015041:Zolazepam; D020926:Medetomidine; D002077:Butorphanol