Xylazine regulates the release of glycine and aspartic acid in rat brain
Published Online: Mar 30, 2018
Page range: 121 - 128
Received: Sep 15, 2017
Accepted: Feb 14, 2018
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jvetres-2018-0017
Keywords
© 2018 Y.-M. Zhang et al., published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.
Introduction
Xylazine, a type of α2-adrenoceptors, is a commonly used drug in veterinary medicine. Xylazine-induced changes in the content of amino acid neurotransmitters – glycine (Gly) and aspartic acid (Asp), in different brain regions and neurons were studied.
Material and Methods
Wistar rats were administered 50 mg/kg or 70 mg/kg of xylazine by intraperitoneal injection. In addition,
Results
During anaesthesia, Asp levels in each brain area were significantly lower compared to the control group. Except for the cerebrum, levels of Gly in other brain areas were significantly increased during the anaesthesia period.
Conclusion
The data showed that during anaesthesia the overall levels of Asp decreased and overall levels of Gly increased. In addition, the inhibitory effect of xylazine on Asp and the promotion of Gly were dose-dependent. Our data showed that different effects of xylazine on excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitters provided a theoretical basis for the mechanism of xylazine activity in clinical anaesthesia.