title: The effect of anaesthesia on somatosensory evoked potential measurement in a rat model.
abstract: Somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) are widely used to study the functional integrity of ascending sensory pathways. For animal studies, SEPs provide a convenient method to quantitatively assess the functionality of the nervous system with low invasiveness. Even though they are frequently used in animal models, little attention is paid to the fact that SEPs are vulnerable to contamination from experimental factors such as anaesthetic delivery. In this study, the effect of isoflurane on SEP measurement was investigated in a rat model. The aim was to find out the adjustments for anaesthetic delivery optimizing the quality of the recordings. Two aspects were studied: the effect of isoflurane dosage on the SEP parameters and on the repeatability of the measurements. The SEP quality was found to be best when 1.5% isoflurane concentration was used. This dosage resulted in the best signal-to-noise ratio and equal repeatability of the measurements compared with the others. Our findings can help in refining the anaesthetic protocols related to SEP recordings in a rat model and, by improving the quality of the measurements, potentially reducing the number of subjects needed to carry out studies.
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Engineering Research Group, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland Singapore Institute for Neurotechnology (SINAPSE), National University of Singapore, Singapore jukortel@ee.oulu.fi.
authors.forename: Jukka
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kortelainen
authors.affiliation: Singapore Institute for Neurotechnology (SINAPSE), National University of Singapore, Singapore Department of Electrical Engineering, American University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.
authors.forename: Hasan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Al-Nashash
authors.affiliation: Singapore Institute for Neurotechnology (SINAPSE), National University of Singapore, Singapore.
authors.forename: Ashwati
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vipin
authors.affiliation: Singapore Institute for Neurotechnology (SINAPSE), National University of Singapore, Singapore.
authors.forename: Xin Yuan
authors.initials: XY
authors.lastname: Thow
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopedic Surgery and Biomedical Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore Department of Neurology and Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
authors.forename: Angelo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: All
mesh_terms: D018685:Anesthetics, Inhalation / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000818:Animals; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004558:Electric Stimulation / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D005073:Evoked Potentials, Somatosensory / Q000187:drug effects*; D005260:Female; D007530:Isoflurane / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley
chemical_list: D018685:Anesthetics, Inhalation; D007530:Isoflurane
keywords: anaesthesia; animal model; reduction; rodents