Abstract

In aquaculture the use of anesthetics is frequent, due to the exposure of fish to stress that affect survival and productive performance, such as manipulation, artificial reproduction and transport. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the depressant activity of propofol in carp (Cyprinus carpio), an anesthetic agonist of the inhibitory activity of GABA. Although there is a history of safety and its pharmacokinetics in cultured fish, its use as an anesthetic has not been reported in aquaculture. Twenty fishes with a total length and average weight of 45.5 ±2.6 cm and 1.5 ±0.3 kg, respectively were used. Three plastic containers of 50 liters each were used with water from the lake to maintain environmental conditions and minimize stress. The methodology of the work consisted of: 1) acclimatization of fish in a container without drug to register basal respiratory rate after adopting normal swimming behavior; 2) transfer to the second container with propofol at 5 ppm, recording times of lateral balance loss and anesthesia and respiratory rate; 3) transfer to the third container without drug registering its behavior and recovery. Statistical treatment of data was carried out with non-parametric Mann-Whitney test. As a result we found that propofol significantly reduced (P< 0.05) the respiratory rate from 72.0 ±8.2 to 55.6 ±13.3 opercular movements per minute. The time of loss of lateral balance and anesthesia were 49.0 ±12.1 and 87.3 ±33.0 seconds and the total recovery was 244 ± 95.3 seconds. No signs of excitation were recorded as well as dead specimens up to 96 hours after the administration of the drug. The results obtained indicate that propofol is a safe and effective anesthetic for C. carpio management.