Bio-logging devices can provide unique insights on the life of freely moving animals. However, implanting these devices often requires invasive surgery that causes stress and physiological side-effects. While certain medications in connection to surgeries have therapeutic capacity, others may have aversive effects. Here, we hypothesized that the commonly prescribed prophylactic treatment with enrofloxacin would increase the physiological recovery rate and reduce the presence of systemic inflammation following the intraperitoneal implantation of a heart rate bio-logger in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). To assess post-surgical recovery, heart rate was recorded for 21 days in trout with or without enrofloxacin treatment. Contrary to our hypothesis, treated trout exhibited a prolonged recovery time and elevated resting heart rates during the first week of post-surgical recovery compared to untreated trout. In addition, an upregulated mRNA expression of TNFα in treated trout indicate a possible inflammatory response 21 days post-surgery. Interestingly, the experience level of the surgeon was observed to have a long-lasting impact on heart rate. In conclusion, our study showed no favorable effects of enrofloxacin treatment. Our findings highlight the importance of adequate post-surgical recovery times and surgical training with regards to improving the welfare of experimental animals and reliability of research outcomes.

生物记录设备可以为自由移动的动物的生活提供独特的见解。然而，植入这些装置通常需要侵入性手术，这会引起压力和生理副作用。尽管某些与外科手术有关的药物具有治疗能力，但其他药物可能会产生厌恶作用。在这里，我们假设在虹鳟鱼腹膜内植入心率生物记录仪后，通常使用恩诺沙星进行的预防性治疗将提高生理恢复率并减少全身性炎症的发生（Oncorhynchus mykiss）。为了评估手术后的恢复情况，鳟鱼在接受或不接受恩诺沙星治疗的情况下记录了21天的心率。与我们的假设相反，与未经治疗的鳟鱼相比，经过治疗的鳟鱼在手术后恢复的第一周内恢复时间延长且静息心率升高。另外，在处理的鳟鱼中TNFα的mRNA表达上调表明手术后21天可能存在炎症反应。有趣的是，观察到外科医生的经验水平对心率具有长期影响。总而言之，我们的研究显示恩诺沙星治疗没有良好的效果。我们的发现强调了适当的手术后恢复时间和手术培训对于提高实验动物的福利和研究结果的可靠性至关重要。