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Improving euthanasia in laboratory rodents

Posted by Chapouthier on 27 Mar 2012 at 11:06 GMT

Euthanasia of laboratory animals is an important issue in practical ethics. Nitrous oxide (N2O) is often used in man to speed induction of anaesthesia with volatile anaesthetics. The authors thus investigated the potential beneficial action of addition of nitrous oxide on euthanasia in mice. They found that the addition of N2O to isoflurane reduced the time to loss of the righting reflex by 17.6%. Furthermore addition of a high concentration of N2O to CO2 was studied. C02 is the gas the most commonly used for euthanasia in rodents and its use is still subject to controversies, since exposure to CO2 is clearly aversive to rodents. Addition of N20 lowered the time to loss of righting reflex by 10.3% and lead to several physiological changes without any behaviour indicative of distress. All these data suggest that “nitrous oxide reduces the time of conscious exposure to gradually rising CO2 during euthanasia and hence may reduce the duration of any stress distress to which mice are exposed during euthanasia”. This interesting article offers new ways for improving euthanasia of laboratory rodents.

No competing interests declared.