Effects of anesthesia and vehicle injection on circulating blood elements in C3H/HeN male mice.

The induction and maintenance of general anesthesia can lead to profound alterations of many organ systems, especially the cardiovascular, pulmonary, and nervous systems. Moreover, distinct from their cardiopulmonary effects, certain anesthetics can induce physiologic and behavioral changes, which may persist after recovery from anesthesia. Knowledge of the effects of anesthesia and anesthetic agents on hematologic measurements is important. Although the effects of anesthesia were clinically unapparent, the effect on levels of circulating blood elements was an important determinant for the results of our study. We sought to evaluate the effect of anesthesia and vehicle injection on the levels of circulating blood elements in C3H/HeN male mice. We used an automated hematology system to obtain complete blood counts with differentials in anesthetized and unanesthetized mice receiving subcutaneous injections of polyethylene glycol (PEG-400). Two days after a 30-min exposure to isoflurane anesthesia, mean white blood cell counts had deceased by 15.4%, mean neutrophil counts had decreased by 26.9%, and mean platelet counts by 11.2% compared with levels in unanesthetized mice. Our results indicate that the effect of anesthesia is an important consideration when circulating blood elements in mice must be measured.

High-dose antibiotic therapy is superior to a 3-drug combination of prostanoids and lipid A derivative in protecting irradiated canines.

There is an urgent need to develop non-toxic radioprotectors. We tested the efficacy of a 3-drug combination (3-DC) of iloprost, misoprostol, and 3D-MPL (3-deacylated monophosphoryl lipid A) and the effects of postirradiation clinical support with high doses of antibiotics and blood transfusion. Canines were given 3-DC or the vehicle and exposed to 3.4 Gy or 4.1 Gy of 60Co radiation. Canines irradiated at 4.1 Gy were also given clinical support, which consisted of blood transfusion and antibiotics (gentamicin, and cefoxitin or cephalexin). Peripheral blood cell profile and 60-day survival were used as indices of protection. At 3.4 Gy, 3-DC- or vehicle-treated canines without postirradiation clinical support survived only for 10 to 12 days. Fifty percent of the canines treated with 3-DC or vehicle and provided postirradiation clinical support survived 4.1-Gy irradiation. Survival of canines treated with vehicle before irradiation significantly correlated with postirradiation antibiotic treatments, but not with blood transfusion. The recovery profile of peripheral blood cells in 4.1 Gy-irradiated canines treated with vehicle and antibiotics was better than drug-treated canines. These results indicate that therapy with high doses of intramuscular aminoglycoside antibiotic (gentamicin) and an oral cephalosporin (cephalexin) enhanced survival of irradiated canines. Although blood transfusion correlated with survival of 3-DC treated canines, there were no additional survivors with 3-DC treated canines than the controls.