Effects of Midazolam/Dexmedetomidine with Buprenorphine or Extended-release Buprenorphine Anesthesia in C57BL/6 Mice.

The effects of commonly used injectable combinations of anesthetics such as ketamine and xylazine, with or without acepromazine, vary widely across individuals, have a shallow-dose response curve, and do not provide long-term analgesia. These drawbacks indicate the importance of continuing efforts to develop safe and effective injectable anesthetic combinations for mice. In this study, a series of experiments was designed to validate the use of dexmedetomidine and midazolam to provide chemical restraint for nonpainful procedures and the addition of buprenorphine or extended-release buprenorphine to reliably provide a surgical plane of anesthesia in C57BL/6J mice.