Sevoflurane is a volatile, non-flammable, and highly fluorinated methyl isopropyl ether anesthetic agent used to induce and maintain general anesthesia in patients or lab animals.[1]
Figure: Chemical structure of Sevoflurane.[1]
General anesthesia is a combination of drugs used during surgeries, medical procedures, or dissection of live animals in lab experiments to create a sleep-like state.[2] The anesthesia induces the patients or lab animals into a coma, resulting in loss of proactive reflexes for a painless procedure.[2]
Anesthesia can be induced intravenously by delivering drugs via injection or inhalation. Sevoflurane is a type of inhalation anesthetic agents delivered through a laryngeal mask, face mask airway, or tracheal tube attached to an anesthetic vaporizer and an anesthetic delivery system.[3]
Sevoflurane was approved for its medicinal purpose by the FDA in 1972. It’s 3X more efficient and potent than desflurane.[4] However, its potency is lower when compared to anesthetic agents like halothane and isoflurane.
Sevoflurane has a low solubility profile and blood/gas partition coefficient.[4] Moreover, the anesthetic agent has a sweet odor and doesn’t irritate the airway of patients and lab animals during administration.
In the commercial market, Sevoflurane is available in liquid form with several brand names like Ultane, Sojourn, Ultane Amerinet, and Ultane Novation.[5] In this article, you will learn how sevoflurane is applied in lab and medical procedures, its handling tips, a comparison with isoflurane, and other anesthetic agents.
Sevoflurane comes in the form of a volatile liquid. It’s delivered to patients or animals using an anesthetic machine.[6] When liquid anesthetics are vaporized in the machine, it mixes the anesthetics, oxygen, and ambient air and generates the gas flow, delivering it to patients or animals.[6]
It’s highly recommended to consult a doctor or trained health professionals before using sevoflurane on patients or lab animals.[7] Any health risks of the patients or lab animals should be accounted for before administration of the anesthesia.
A host of factors that should be considered include allergies, pediatric-specific problems, geriatric-specific problems, breastfeeding, the interaction with other drugs, and other medical problems like liver, heart, kidney, or lung diseases.
After entering the patient’s body, Sevoflurane binds with the ligand-gated ion channels and blocks central nervous system transmission, inducing an anesthesia state.[4]
The inhalation drug inhibits excitatory synaptic channel activity by binding to serotonin, nicotinic acetylcholine, and glutamate receptors. It can also enhance inhibitory postsynaptic channel activity by binding to glycine and GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) receptors.[4]
Furthermore, sevoflurane can also regulate the body’s activity by modulating several ion channels, affecting different ionic currents such as T-type and L-type Ca2+ currents, the Na+/Ca2+ exchange current (INCX), and the rectifier K+ currents.[4]
Sevoflurane possesses a certain level of hazard and causes health issues if not handled carefully while in use, such as:[8]
Therefore, it’s essential to obtain special training and instructions before using sevoflurane.[8] Here’re some suggestions to follow while using sevoflurane:
Isoflurane is an ether halogenated anesthetic agent like sevoflurane. Both anesthetics have similar side effects, including dose-dependent depression of the central nervous system (CNS), vasodilation, and hypotension.
However, there are some differences between these anesthetic agents:[9]
Though many of the above-given differences point in the direction of sevoflurane being the better anesthesia, the cost of the drug can not be ignored. Furthermore, isoflurane is still a licensed drug covering a range of animal species compared to Sevoflurane.
Thus, reducing the cost of sevoflurane and making its use more diverse (applicable to more animal species) would be a valuable addition to vet anesthesia.[10]
Learn more about the safe use of isoflurane for anesthesia here.
Yes. Sevoflurane is only a single example of inhalation anesthetics. Typically, there are five classes of anesthetic agents:[11]
Sevoflurane is a volatile anesthetic agent used in surgeries to induce general anesthesia in patients or lab animals. The drug is commercially available in liquid form and administered to patients using an anesthetic machine, transforming it into gas and mixing it with oxygen to make it inhalable.
Accidental contact of Sevoflurane with skin and eyes or its inhalation can cause serious harm. Thus, consult a doctor or drug expert and read the safety manual thoroughly before using the medicine in the surgeries.
Apart from sevoflurane, other anesthetic drugs commercially available include isoflurane, atracurium, and desflurane.
Are you working in a lab on procedures requiring high-quality and effective Sevoflurane anesthesia? Then, look nowhere because we’ve got you covered. Here’s the best recommended Sevoflurane to use on lab animals.
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