Abstract:Objective To compare the anesthetic effect of Urethane (ethyl carbamate), Sodium pentobarbital, Propofol and Sodium thiopental in rabbit surgery as appendectomy. Methods Twelve healthy rabbits were divided into 4 groups, with 3 in each group, the anesthesia drugs were slowly injected through their auricular veins. The rabbits in the group A were given Urethane (20.0%, 4 ml/kg), the rabbits in the group B received Sodium pentobarbital (0.7%, 1 ml/kg), the rabbits in the group C were given Propofol (1.0%, 1 ml/kg), and those in the group D received Sodium thiopental (2.5%, 0.6 ml/kg). The respiratory rate, heart rate, anesthetic onset time, duration of anesthesia, and anesthetic recovery time were recorded and compared among the 4 groups. Results In the groups A, B, C and D, the onset time was (6.4 ± 0.8), (9.0 ± 0.6), (7.7 ± 0.3) and (3.1 ± 0.5) min respectively; the duration of anesthesia was (32.2 ± 3.7), (40.1 ± 6.5), (43.4 ± 3.9) and (30.6 ± 3.7) min respectively; the postoperative recovery time was (25.2 ± 3.7), (13.6 ± 6.4), (12.1 ± 3.9) and (5.1 ± 1.4) min. Conclusions For surgical anesthesia of experimental rabbits, 2.5% Sodium thiopental has the fastest onset; 1.0% Propofol has the longest anesthetic time, is suitable for animal experiments requiring long-term observation; 20.0% Urethane has a long anesthesia maintenence time and high postoperative mortality, and is suitable for the experiments without high experimental requirements and the animals should be sacrificed after operation.