in southeastern part of nigeria , west african dwarf ( wad ) goats are the most common type of goat rear for economic purposes , hence necessitating serious attention on the health status of the animal . anaesthetic / sedatives play significant role in both human and animal during surgery especially in painful procedures . propofol is a phenolic compound that has good quality anaesthesia , rapid onset , and short duration of action with rapid recoveries . it lacks analgesic property and is combined with xylazine , an alpha-2-adrenoceptor agonist which has analgesic , sedative , and muscle relaxant effect , for painful procedure . xylazine may produce cardiovascular and respiratory depression , temporal hyperglycemia in goats and cattle , and diuresis . ketamine is a dissociative anaesthetic agent that has profound analgesia and produces stable hemodynamic effects during anaesthesia . blood glucose is stable in ruminant most of the time because instead of being directly absorbed from the gut it is mainly derived by gluconeogenesis . however , eriksson and teravainen   reported decrease in blood glucose concentration , following morning feeding of hay after which prefeeding level was restored within 2.5 hours . cortisol secretion increases in response to any stress in the body such as illness , trauma , surgery , temperature extremes , and transportation [ 6 , 7 ] . the anaesthetic drugs can inhibit the release of cortisol and decrease the cortisol level in the blood [ 9 , 10 ] . alanine aminotransferase ( alt ) is a liver specific hepatocellular enzyme in dog , cat , primate , and mice but not of mature horses , sheep , pigs , or cattle , as their livers do not contain significant level . blood urea nitrogen ( bun ) levels may be significantly altered by protein catabolism , protein synthesis , or both . creatinine excretion is constant in the absence of disease and less affected by change in diet [ 13 , 14 ] . the objective was to determine the possible biochemical effects of xylazine , propofol , and ketamine in wad goats , ascertain the level of deviation from normal biochemical parameters of the animal , and establish biochemical profile of anaesthetized wad goats in order to avoid erroneous interpretations when a normal blood test is analyzed in such animals . twenty healthy male goats aged between 7 and 9 months were used for the study . the goats were randomly divided into four goats per a pen and kept at normal environmental temperature and natural light / darkness daily cycle . they were fed with freshly cut grasses and allowed to graze in the field under controlled tittering . water was also served ad libitum . clinical examination and physiological parameters such as heart rate , rectal temperature , and respiratory rate group k + x was treated with ketamine ( laborate pharmaceutical , india ) given at 5  mg / kg with xylazine ( kepro holland ) at 0.05  mg / kg . group p + x was treated with propofol ( pofol popular infusion , ltd . , tongi , bangladesh ) given at 5  mg / kg with xylazine at 0.05  mg / kg . group k + p was treated with propofol at the dosage of 5  mg / kg with ketamine at 5  mg / kg , while group p + k + x was treated with propofol at 2.5  mg / kg and ketamine at 2.5  mg / kg with xylazine at 0.05  mg / kg . the drugs were administered intravenously ( iv ) through the jugular vein . blood samples were collected before anaesthesia at time ( t0 ) and then at 30  min following induction and 2 hours and 24 hours after anaesthetic recovery . about 2.5  ml of blood collected was placed into non - edta test tube and allowed to clot and serum harvested for biochemistry . serum cortisol levels in the experimental goat were carried out using cortisol elisa kit with serial number e1a-1887 ( drg diagnostic , drg instrument gmbh , murbarg , germany ) . the procedure was carried out according to the company 's specifications ( drg diagnostic user 's manual , 2006 ) . serum alt , bun , and creatinine were measured by autoanalyser ( bt-3000 biotecnica , italy ) . the blood glucose concentrations were measured using a hand - held glucose meter ( accu - chek , roche diagnostics auckland , new zealand ) . the experiments were conducted consistently in the morning , from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. gmt , daily . a probability value less than or equal to 0.05 ( p  0.05 ) was considered significant in all cases . the values significantly increased ( p < 0.05 ) at 30  min after anaesthetic induction in all the groups when compared to the preinduction values and control group . significant increase ( p < 0.05 ) was also recorded at 2 hours after anaesthetic recovery in groups k + x , p + x , and p + k + x and 24 hours after recovery in group k + x. the significant increase ( p < 0.05 ) was highest in groups k + x and p + x at 30  min after anaesthetic induction when compared to other treated groups while at 2 hours after recovery it was significantly higher ( p < 0.05 ) in groups k + x and p + k + x when compared to the other groups . the serum cortisol level ( table 1 ) significantly decreased ( p < 0.05 ) at 30  min after induction in group p + x only . however , significant ( p < 0.05 ) increase at 2 hours after anaesthetic recovery was observed in groups k + x , p + k , and p + k + x. this increase remained significant at 24 hours in group p + x when compared to preinduction values and control group . the significant increase ( p < 0.05 ) was higher in groups k + x and p + k + x at 2 hours after recovery when compared to other treated groups . serum alt levels ( p < 0.05 ) increased at 2 hours in group k + x and at 24 hours in groups p + k and p + k + x after recovery , respectively . bun levels increased ( p < 0.05 ) in group k + x but significantly decreased ( p < 0.05 ) in group p + k + x at 30 minutes after induction . there was no significant variation ( p > 0.05 ) in creatinine level in all the groups ( table 1 ) . the results of this experiment showed that blood glucose level significantly increased ( p < 0.05 ) in all groups at 30 minutes after induction . however , it might have been probably caused by hyperglycemic effect of ketamine and xylazine [ 16 , 17 ] . the elevation in the blood glucose may be a transient effect of the anaesthetics because the blood glucose values returned to the preinduction values at 24 hours after recovery in all groups except in group k + x. it may be as a result of hyperglycemic effect of ketamine and xylazine . serum cortisol level was significantly low in group p + x at 30 minutes after induction which may have resulted from the suppression of production and release of cortisol in the blood . this can be attributed to the suppressive and inhibitory action of propofol and xylazine on the adrenal steroidogenesis [ 18 , 19 ] . sharif and abouazra   reported that pretreatment of goat with xylazine suppressed cortisol concentration induced by transportation . our results show that the administration of p + x inhibited the corticoadrenal function in wad goats , denoted by a decrease of serum glucocorticoid levels . however there was surge in the cortisol concentration at 2 hours after recovery in groups k + x , p + k , and p + k + x when the effect of the anaesthetic must have waned . the elevation in the serum cortisol may be due to effect of ketamine in the combinations used . the result is in accordance with previous studies on ketamine anaesthesia [ 21 , 22 ] . cortisol release may have been triggered by the sympathomimetic effect of ketamine [ 22 , 23 ] . also ketamine may exert its antagonistic effect on the n - methyl d - aspartate ( nmda ) receptors which are involved in the physiologic pulsatile regulation of hormone release from the hypothalamopituitary axis . an increase in serum alt was observed in groups k + x , p + k , and p + k + x after recovery . a similar increase in serum alt concentration following the administration of ketamine - xylazine in rabbit has been reported . xylazine is a commonly used sedative in ruminants but there are concerns about the threat of hypoxaemia associated with its use in small ruminants . it is possible that hypotension in combination with hypoxemia [ 24 , 26 , 27 ] may have caused the release of these enzymes from the heart muscles or liver . decreases in the serum bun levels were observed following the administration of p + k + x and p + x , respectively . the observed decrease may be as a result of increase in renal function in response to the elimination of these drugs . an increase in serum bun levels was observed at 30  min after induction following the administration of k + x. the increase in serum bun levels has been reported after k + x administration in rabbit [ 24 , 26 ] . ketamine can reduce renal cortical blood flow and urine output   and , hence , decreases glomerular filtration rate and increases plasma bun and creatinine levels . it may be concluded that the use of k + x may lead to temporal hyperglycemia . the changes in serum bun , alt , and creatinine observed after induction of the anaesthetics might be related to possible mild and transient effect of the anaesthetics on the renal function rather than pathological conditions . however , p + k + x would be the best drug combinations taking into account biochemical parameter measured . nevertheless , anerroneous interpretation may arise from data on blood glucose , alt , bun , and cortisol level in an anaesthetized goat when a normal blood test is done in such animal due to the effect of anaesthetics on the parameters . therefore , such data should be interpreted with caution or the blood test should be done after 24 hours after recovery .
anaesthesia was induced in west african dwarf ( wad ) goats using different combinations of propofol ( p ) , xylazine ( x ) , and ketamine ( k ) , and the biochemical effect of the drugs determined . 
 twenty male ( wad ) goats were randomly assigned to five treatment groups viz . 
 control ( c ) ( 2.5  ml iv normal saline ) ; group k + x ( 5  mg / kg iv ketamine + 0.05  mg / kg iv xylazine ) , group p + x ( 5  mg / kg iv propofol + 0.05  mg / kg iv xylazine ) , group p + k ( propofol 5  mg / kg iv + ketamine 5  mg / kg iv ) , and group p + k + x ( propofol 2.5  mg / kg iv + ketamine 2.5  mg / kg iv + xylazine 0.05  mg / kg iv ) , respectively . 
 there was increase ( p < 0.05 ) in blood glucose in k + x , p + x and p + k + x. the serum cortisol level increased ( p < 0.05 ) in all groups except in p + x. alt value increased ( p < 0.05 ) in k + x , p + k , and p + k + x. bun increased ( p < 0.05 ) in k + x but decreased ( p < 0.05 ) in p + k + x. there was no significant variation ( p > 0.05 ) in serum creatinine . 
 these biochemical changes were transient . 
 p + k + x would be the best drug combinations considering the biochemical parameter measured . 
 however , data on blood glucose , alt , bun , and cortisol levels in an anaesthsized goat should be interpreted with caution in order to avoid erroneous interpretation in these animals .