Effect of thiopental, saffan, and propofol anesthesia on cardiovascular parameters and bronchial smooth muscle in the rhesus monkey.

The application of human pediatric equipment for measuring respiratory function in nonhuman primates is rapidly gaining popularity in the evaluation of anti-asthma drugs. An important difference between primate procedures and the human clinical situation is the requirement for anesthesia for some techniques because of poor animal compliance. We studied the actions of three potential maintenance anesthetic agents-thiopental, saffan, and propofol-and their effects on a range of cardiovascular parameters under conditions of a broncho-provocation test in rhesus monkeys. The spasmolytic effect of saffan on bronchial smooth muscle was investigated in smooth muscle preparations in vitro and in the rhesus monkey in vivo. Thiopental proved to be a useful sedating agent for this application. Saffan proved to be a bronchodilator in vitro, but the sedative dose was lower than that required to induce appreciable bronchodilator activity in vivo. In comparison, propofol was not appropriate for this application because of the poor sedative effect at nonbronchodilator doses.