Evaluation of Propofol as an anesthetic in Ictalurus punctatus
Key words: Catfish, Stress, Anesthesia, 2,6-Diisopropylphenol
The aquaculture expansion has led to the need for maximum efficiency in management
routines such as breeding identification, use of hormones to induce reproduction,
obtaining tissues for laboratory analysis, vaccination, transport and biometries. These
practices can cause stress and negatively affect growth, reproduction, immune system
and even provoke the death of fish. In order to optimize procedures in fish farming,
without these stressing factors and physical damage to fish, the use of anesthetics
during routine practices is considered a mesure to reduce stress. This project aims to
evaluate Propofol (2,6-diisopropylphenol) as anesthetic in Catfish (Ictalurus punctatus)
and its effects on fish physiology. The project was divided into two phases. Phase I: a)
Determination of anesthetic induction and recovery times; b) Determination of the ideal
anesthetic dose. Phase II: Evaluation of anesthetic effect (optimal dose) on
physiological responses (cortisol, glucose, lactate) and histopathological changes in
gills and liver. To determine the ideal dose, 60 juveniles with a mean weight of 96.60 ±
27.70 g were submitted to different anesthetic concentrations: 1.5; 2.0; 2.5; 3.0; 4.0; 5.0;
6.0 mg / L. The anesthetic stages were observed. Once anesthesia stage II was
reached (total loss of balance and muscle tone, low frequency of opercular movements
and strongly attenuated reflexive responses), the induction time was noted. Determined
the optimal dose (2.5mg / L), 35 juveniles were used to evaluate the effect of theanesthetic on physiological responses and histopathological changes. Samples (blood,
gill and liver tissue) from 10 fish were collected at time zero (T0), and after thirty
minutes (T30) of exposure, samples from 15 fish were used as controls (no anesthetic
exposure). Subsequently sent to the laboratory for analysis. Once analyzed the data will
be presented as mean ± standard error. These will be submitted to the Shapiro-Wilk test
to verify normality, and submitted to analysis of variance, Tukey test and regression.
Differences will be considered significant when p˂0.05.