The role of amantadine as a premedication for induction of ketamine-balanced anesthesia in chick model

The objective of this research was to investigate the pharmacological effects of amantadine in 7-14 day-old chicks and to determine its safety, as well as its role in inducing ketamine-balanced anesthesia, and to compare it with the traditional mixture (ketamine-xylazine) for future use in other animals. The analgesic median effective dose and the acute median lethal dose of amantadine were determined using the up-and-down method to be 15.72 and 930 mg/kg, orally (P.O.), respectively. These results showed that amantadine has a wide range of safety in the chick model by measuring the therapeutic index. Amantadine at multiple doses of 7.86, 15.72, and 31.44 mg/kg, P.O., caused analgesia in chicks at percentages of 33, 50, and 100%, respectively, in a dose-dependent fashion. Ketamine alone (25 mg/kg, IM) produces analgesia, while administration of xylazine (5 mg/kg, IM) or amantadine (31.44 mg/kg, P.O.) with ketamine significantly increases the pain relief. Amantadine with ketamine significantly reduced the hypnotic onset and recovery associated with ketamine or as a mixture with xylazine. When measuring the vital signs of chicks using a patient monitor when anesthetized with ketamine alone or with xylazine or amantadine, amantadine reduced the cardiopulmonary (heart rate, blood pressure, respiratory rate, and SPO2) suppression compared to xylazine. The results of this study specify that amantadine has analgesic and hypnotic properties and a wide margin of safety, in addition to the possibility of using it to induce ketamine-balanced anesthesia in chicks, which makes it useful for future use in veterinary medicine.