Abstract Rumen motility is depressed by a number of anesthetic agents, making them unsuitable for the reduction of animal anxiety and distress during experimental investigations of rumen motility. Little is known about the influence on rumen motility inhibition of chemical agents that induce sedation without unconsciousness. A pilot trial was performed to assess the effect of three commonly used ruminant sedatives on rumen motility. Xylazine, acetylpromazine and diazepam were individually administered by intravenous injection to 3 adult sheep ewes. Animal behaviour was observed and ultrasound monitoring was used to assess rumen contractions in the animals over a range of sedative doses. At low dosages ( ≤ 0.05 mg/kg), xylazine reduced contractive frequency after 5 minutes, and at higher dosages ( ≥ 0.125 mg/kg) full atony was observed. In contrast, neither acetylpromazine (0.02 - 0.1 mg/kg) or diazepam (0.2 - 0.5 mg/kg) depressed rumen motility. Diazepam was also observed to give greater sedative effect than acetylpromazine, both in terms of muscular and cognitive sedation. Sedative effects lasted approximately 20 - 30 minutes after administration, after which the effects diminished rapidly. We conclude that diazepam at dosages of 0.3 - 0.5 mg/kg is suitable for procedures requiring short term sedation of sheep while preserving rumen motility.

中文翻译：

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镇静剂对绵羊瘤胃活力影响的技术说明

摘要 许多麻醉剂会抑制瘤胃运动，使其不适合在瘤胃运动的实验研究中减少动物的焦虑和痛苦。关于诱导无意识镇静的化学试剂对瘤胃运动抑制的影响知之甚少。进行了一项初步试验以评估三种常用的反刍动物镇静剂对瘤胃运动的影响。赛拉嗪、乙酰丙嗪和地西泮分别通过静脉注射给予 3 只成年绵羊。观察动物行为并使用超声监测来评估在一定范围的镇静剂量下动物的瘤胃收缩。在低剂量 (≤ 0.05 mg/kg) 时，赛拉嗪在 5 分钟后降低收缩频率，在更高剂量 (≥ 0.125 mg/kg) 时观察到完全乏力。相比之下，乙酰丙嗪 (0.02 - 0.1 mg/kg) 或地西泮 (0.2 - 0.5 mg/kg) 都不会抑制瘤胃运动。还观察到地西泮在肌肉和认知镇静方面比乙酰丙嗪具有更大的镇静作用。镇静作用在给药后持续约 20-30 分钟，之后作用迅速减弱。我们得出结论，0.3 - 0.5 mg/kg 剂量的地西泮适用于需要对绵羊进行短期镇静同时保持瘤胃运动的程序。