Well-controlled anesthesia is critical to reducing potential surgical complications and ensuring safe and
successful procedures. Respiratory depression, inducing hypoxia, and hypercapnia are adverse effects
of injectable anesthesia in laboratory rats. This study aimed to determine the effect of oxygen supply in
laboratory rats anesthetized with the combination of ketamine (K) and xylazine (X) plus acepromazine (A) or
methadone (Me). The results showed that oxygenation allowed adequate levels of SO2 and paO2, avoiding
hypoxemia. However, all anesthetized rats showed respiratory acidosis with low pH and high paCO2 levels,
which was not reversed after oxygen administration. The acidosis could be related to hypoventilation due
to respiratory depression induced by the XKMe association, as well as absorption atelectasis with the CO2
accumulation during anesthesia. Despite respiratory acidosis, oxygen administration was beneficial for
anesthetized rats preventing hypoxemia. This makes it possible to prevent all the metabolic alterations
that cause cell death by hypoxia, improving the well-being of anesthetized rats, as well as the quality of
the results obtained.

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