A Tavakoli - Department of Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Islamic Azad University, Garmsar Branch, Garmsar- Iran
Sh Fooladian - Graduated of Faculty of Veterinary Medicine& Young Researches Club of Islamic Azad University, Garmsar Branch, Garmsar- Iran
A Haghighi - Graduated of Faculty of Veterinary Medicine& Young Researches Club of Islamic Azad University, Garmsar Branch, Garmsar- Iran

Epidural analgesia is a type of regional block, commonly used in human and veterinary practice to alleviate pain solelyor auxiliary to other methods of anesthesia. This method of analgesia is widely used in abdominal, perineal, tail and rear limb surgeries andprocedures. It is also widely common to relieve pain after operations and in patients with chronic pain. Many reportsare available about analgesic properties of metoclopramide which is primarily used as antiemetic; meanwhile, Lidocaine was used to induce analgesia in different species of animal from long time ago. Since narcotics have limitation in prescribing by physicians and clinicians, promoting other types of drugs with analgesic effects seem worthwhile. The present prospective experiment wasdesigned to study effects of metoclopramide on epidural analgesia induced by lidocaine in rabbits. Twelve healthy New Zealand white rabbits weighing 3-3.5 kg were divided randomly into two groups. In group A, 2 % lidocaine (1.5 ml) and in group B the combination of 2 % lidocaine (1.5 ml) and metoclopramide HCl (0.5 ml) was used to induce epidural analgesia. Two more injections with 48 hours andone week intervals were performed in the same manner. The onset time of analgesia (OT), duration of flaccid paresis (DFP) and duration of analgesia (DA) was determined in all treatments. Repeated measure ANOVA and Banferroni test were used to compare mean andvariances within and between groups. Statistical analysis showed that there were no significant difference in mean of OT and DFP between groups (p> 0.05). Whereas mean of duration of analgesia was significantly higher in group B (39.1±16.2 min) compared to group A (23.6±5.5 min) (p=0.018). In conclusion the addition of metoclopramide to lidocaine is effective in prolongation of epidural analgesiain rabbit. Islamic.Azad.Univ., Garmsar Branch. 5,1:67- 71,2010.

Epidural analgesia, Lidocaine, Metoclopramide, Rabbit