ANESTHETIC EFFICACIES OF EPIDURALLY ADMINISTRATED LIGNOCAINE-HCl AND BUPIVACAINE-HCl ALONE AND THEIR COMBINATIONS IN RABBITS

The current study aimed to evaluate the anesthetic efficacies of epidurally administered lignocaine-HCl and bupivacaine-HCl alone and their combinations in rabbits. A total of 15 rabbits was allocated equally into three groups. Rabbits in Group A received epidural injection of 4 mg/kg 2% lignocaine-HCl; Group B received of 1 mg/kg 0.5%, bupivacaine-HCl. However, the rabbits of Group C received combined solution of 2 mg/kg of 2% lignocaine-HCl and 0.5mg/kg of 0.5% bupivacaine-HCl. Physiological parameters such as heart rate, respiratory rate and rectal temperature were recorded 10 minutes before and then after epidural anesthesia at every 10 minutes intervals over a period of 120 minutes. Similarly, the onset and duration time of anesthesia, onset and duration time of loss of weight bearing ability and flaccid paresis were recorded after epidural administration of analgesia. The onsets of anesthesia were 8.0 ± 0.354 min, 12.5 ± 0.224 min 10.1 ± 0.272 min in rabbits those received, lignocaine, bupivacaine and lignocaine + bupivacaine epidurally, respectively. The duration of anesthesia was higher (P<0.01) in rabbits of Group B (138.00 ± 5.15 min) than those of Group A (50.60 ± 1.60) and Group C (87.20 ± 5.05). The onset of loss of weight bearing ability, duration of loss of weight, onset of flaccid paralysis and duration of flaccid paralysis were higher (P<0.05) in Group B (17.6000 ± 0.245 min) as compared to Group A and Group C. The lumbosacral epidural administration of combination of lignocaine and bupivacaine provided superior anesthetic effects over lignocaine and bupivacaine.