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DIFFERENTIAL IMPACT OF HYPOTHERMIA AND PENTOBARBITAL ON BRAINSTEM AUDITORY EVOKED RESPONSE
Citation:
Janssen, R., B. Hetzler, J. Creason, AND R. Dyer. DIFFERENTIAL IMPACT OF HYPOTHERMIA AND PENTOBARBITAL ON BRAINSTEM AUDITORY EVOKED RESPONSE. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/J-91/262 (NTIS PB92113240).
Description:
Two experiments were conducted to determine the effects of hypothermia and pentobarbital anesthesia, alone and in combination, on the brainstem auditory evoked responses (BAERs) of rats. n experiment I, unanesthetized rats were cooled to colonic temperatures 0.5 and 1.0 degrees C below normal. n Experiment II, two groups of rats were cooled and tested at 37.5, 36.0, 34.5 and 31.5 degrees C. ne group was anesthetized during testing and the other group was awake. he rat BAER was sensitive to cooling of one degree Celsius or less. eak latencies were prolonged and peak-to-peak altitudes were increased by hypothermia alone. entobarbital significantly affected both latencies and amplitudes over and above the effects of cooling. The specific effects of pentobarbital differed by BAER peak and by temperature. The findings point up the importance of the confound of anesthetic drugs in most of the evoked potential literature on hypothermia and, for the first time, quantify the complex interactions between pentobarbital and temperature which affect the BAER waveform.