The aim of this study was to investigate the sedative and antinociceptive effects of three dopaminergic blockers often used in veterinary medicine. The study was conducted on 10 Thoroughbred mares. Sedation was evaluated by determining the spontaneous locomotor activity (SLA) in automated individual behavior stalls and by measuring head ptosis (HP). The intravenous injection of acepromazine (0....

We examined the current stimulus threshold in rats with the Neurometer, a device used clinically for measuring perception and pain thresholds. Although many studies have indicated the usefulness of this device in the quantification of nerve dysfunction in patients, we have found no published reports on the use of the Neurometer in animals. Transcutaneous nerve stimuli of the three sine-wave pul...

BACKGROUND Today most of herbal medicines are marketing without any standard safety profiles. Although common assumption is that these products are nontoxic but this assumption may be incorrect and dangerous, so toxicological studies should be done for herbal drugs. According to the frequent use of Echium amoenum as immunostimulant and useful in conditions including pain, cough, sore throat and...

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to determine whether parental auricular acupuncture reduces parental preoperative anxiety and thus allows children to benefit from parental presence during induction of anesthesia. METHODS Mothers of children who were scheduled to undergo surgery were randomly assigned to an acupuncture intervention group (auricular press needles at relaxation, tranqui...

Although agarwood has been used as a tranquilizer in Asian countries for hundreds of years, the underlying pharmacological basis is still unclear. This study investigated the sedative-hypnotic effect of agarwood essential oil (AEO) using locomotor activity and pentobarbital-induced sleeping assays in mice. Single (1-day) and multiple (7- and 14-days) administrations of 60 mg/kg AEO generated si...

OBJECTIVES The aim of the present study was to quantify by accelerometry the trotting pattern of adult horses sedated with two different doses of acepromazine, in order to assess the use of this drug in equine lameness evaluations. METHODS Seven mature horses were used and three treatments were administered to each horse: saline solution, acepromazine (0.01 mg/kg), and acepromazine (0.02 mg/k...

OBJECTIVE Despite governmental initiatives that control, discourage and even prohibit the divulgation of the usage of dummies and pacifiers in maternity wards, the frequency of pacifier use by Brazilian children is still high. In light of this phenomenon, the aim of the present study was to investigate the social representations of the pacifier constructed by mothers whose children used pacifie...

Spikenard, the dried roots of Nardostachys chinensis, contains sesquiterpenoids and is widely used as an herbal tranquilizer. We previously demonstrated that spikenard vapor showed a sedative effect when administered by inhalation, and we identified hydrocarbon sesquiterpenoids as active components. Here we investigated the other components that contribute to the effects of spikenard. Six oxyge...

The method described confirms the use of the tranquilizer azaperone by detecting the parent compound and the metabolically reduced form, azaperol. Both are confirmed in swine liver at a target concentration of 10 ppb by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) with electron ionization in the selected-ion-monitoring mode. Swine liver tissue is ground with dry ice. Acetonitrile is added to ex...