Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
How acepromazine and levomethadone affect heat pain in beagle dogs
By Hoffmann, Marina Verena et al.·Published in BMC veterinary research·2012·Department of Small Animal Medicine and Surgery (Hoffmann, Germany·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Contact heat thermal threshold testing in beagle dogs: baseline reproducibility and the effect of acepromazine, levomethadone and fenpipramide.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of six adult beagle dogs underwent a test to measure their pain response to heat after receiving either a sedative (acepromazine), a pain medication (levomethadone), or a placebo. The results showed that levomethadone significantly increased the dogs' pain threshold for up to two hours, indicating it was effective in reducing their sensitivity to heat. In contrast, acepromazine did not have any effect on the pain threshold. Overall, the testing device used was found to be reliable for measuring pain response in dogs.
People also search for: beagle pain response to heat · levomethadone for dogs · acepromazine effects on dogs
Abstract
BACKGROUND: In this methodology article a thermal threshold testing device designed to test nociception in cats was assessed in six dogs. The purpose of this study was to investigate baseline reproducibility of thermal thresholds obtained by the contact heat testing device, to assess the influence of acepromazine and levomethadone and fenpipramide in dogs. The relationship between change in nociceptive thermal threshold and the opioid's plasma concentration was determined. Six adult beagle dogs received levomethadone (0.2 mg/kg), acepromazine (0.02 mg/kg) or saline placebo by intramuscular injection (IM) in a randomized cross-over design. Three baseline nociceptive thermal threshold readings were taken at 15 minutes intervals prior to treatment. Further readings were made at 15, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, 150, 180, 210, 240, 270, 300, 330, 360, 420 and 480 minutes after injection. A sedation score was assigned at every reading. Four saline placebo treatments were performed to assess baseline reproducibility. Levomethadone serum concentrations were measured prior and 0.5, 1, 2, 4, 8, 12 and 24 hours after drug dosing in a separate occasion. RESULTS: Acepromazine did not seem to increase the thermal threshold at any time. After levomethadone there was a significant rise of the thermal threshold between 15 to 120 minutes at serum concentrations between 22.6-46.3 ng/mL. Baseline reproducibility was stable in adult beagle dogs. CONCLUSION: The thermal threshold testing system is a suitable device for nociceptive threshold testing in dogs.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23110740/