The effect of ether and pentobarbitone sodium on gastrointestinal function in the intact rat.

The effect of ether and pentobarbitone anaesthesia on gastrointestinal motility and absorption has been studied by measuring simultaneously gastric emptying, small intestinal transit and intestinal absorption of glucose and iodide in intact rats. Both gastric emptying and intestinal transit are very slow under ether anaesthesia, but with pentobarbitone there is no significant delay. The absorption of glucose by the small intestine is significantly impaired by ether but not by pentobarbitone, and a tracer dose of iodide is absorbed normally under both forms of anaesthesia.