Alfaxalone is an effective anesthetic for the electrophysiological study of anoxia-tolerance mechanisms in western painted turtle pyramidal neurons.

Anoxia in the mammalian brain leads to hyper-excitability and cell death; however, this cascade of events does not occur in the anoxia-tolerant brain of the western painted turtle, Chrysemys picta belli. The painted turtle has become an important anoxia-tolerant model to study brain, heart, and liver function in the absence of oxygen, but being anoxia-tolerant likely means that decapitation alone is not a suitable method of euthanasia. Many anesthetics have long-term effects on ion channels and are not appropriate for same day experimentation.

Alfaxalone does not have long-term effects on goldfish pyramidal neuron action potential properties or GABA receptor currents.

Anesthetics have varying physiological effects, but most notably alter ion channel kinetics. Alfaxalone is a rapid induction and washout neuroactive anesthetic, which potentiates γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-activated GABA receptor (GABA-R) currents. This study aims to identify any long-term effects of alfaxalone sedation on pyramidal neuron action potential and GABA-R properties, to determine if its impact on neuronal function can be reversed in a sufficiently short timeframe to allow for same-day electrophysiological studies in goldfish brain.