The impact of vatinoxan on microcirculation after intramuscular co-administration with medetomidine in Beagle dogs: a blinded crossover study

To measure the effects on microcirculation of medetomidine alone (MED) or combined with vatinoxan (MVX).Randomized, crossover, blinded, experimental study.A group of eight healthy purpose-bred Beagle dogs.Each dog was given 1 mg mThe interquartile range for baseline measurements was 91.49%-98.42% for PPV, 2.75-3 for MFI and 0-0.36 for HI. Significant effects of treatment and baseline were found. The estimated effect of MED against MVX was -1.98% (-3.53% to -0.42%) for PPV, -0.33 (-0.43 to -0.22) for MFI and 0.14 (0.05 to 0.22) for HI. There were no significant changes seen for perfused DeBacker density, perfused DeBacker density20 μm and PPV20 μm between treatments.These results suggest that MVX had significantly fewer effects on buccal mucosal microcirculation than MED. The SDF camera is a useful research tool to assess the microcirculatory status of heavily sedated dogs.