Background
The influence of anaesthetic depth and the potential influence of different anaesthetic beds and thus different handling procedures were investigated in 86 severe combined immunodeficient (SCID) mice using semi-stationary dynamic single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) for kidney scintigraphy. Therefore, isoflurane concentrations were adjusted using respiratory rate for low (80–90 breath/min) and deep anaesthesia (40–45 breath/min). At low anaesthesia, we additionally tested the influence of single bed versus 3-mouse bed hotel; the hotel mice were anaesthetized consecutively at ~ 30, 20, and 10 min before tracer injections for positions 1, 2, and 3, respectively. Intravenous [ 99m Tc]Tc-MAG3 injection of ~ 28 MBq was performed after SPECT start. Time-activity curves were used to calculate time-to-peak (Tmax), T50 (50% clearance) and T25 (75% clearance).
Results
Low and deep anaesthesia corresponded to median isoflurane concentrations of 1.3% and 1.5%, respectively, with no significant differences in heart rate ( p = 0.74). Low anaesthesia resulted in shorter aortic blood clearance half-life ( p = 0.091) and increased relative renal tracer influx rate ( p = 0.018). A tendency toward earlier Tmax occurred under low anaesthesia ( p = 0.063) with no differences in T50 ( p = 0.40) and T25 ( p = 0.24). Variance increased with deep anaesthesia. Compared to single mouse scans, hotel mice in position 1 showed a delayed Tmax, T50, and T25 ( p < 0.05 each). Furthermore, hotel mice in position 1 showed delayed Tmax versus position 3, and delayed T50 and T25 versus position 2 and 3 ( p < 0.05 each). No difference occurred between single bed and positions 2 ( p = 1.0) and 3 ( p = 1.0).
Conclusions
Deep anaesthesia and prolonged low anaesthesia should be avoided during renal scintigraphy because they result in prolonged blood clearance half-life, delayed renal influx and/or later Tmax. Vice versa, low anaesthesia with high respiratory rates of 80–90 rpm and short duration (≤ 20 min) should be preferred to obtain representative data with low variance.
