Evaluation of general anesthesia with ketamine-diazepam combination on leukocyte response in young and old dogs

Surgical interventions lead to stress response in patient. Stress and pain evaluation is considered using some physiologic parameters such as white blood count. The relative proportions of each white blood cell type, usually obtained by light microscope examination of 100 leukocytes in a stained blood smear, are the components of the leukocyte profile (LP). Aging is known to affect immune response. The present study evaluated effects of intravenous administration of ketamine (10 mg/kg)-diazepam (0.5 mg/kg) combination on leukocyte profile in five young dogs (4-6 months) and 5 old dogs (7-9 years). Three blood samples have been taken in all animals: before drug administration as basic LP, at surgical anesthetic/analgesic period and at complete recovery due to anesthetic combination injection. Results showed ketamine-diazepam affected leukocyte's response. It caused increase of lymphocytes but, leukocyte changes in young and old group showed no significant differences.