Thiopental anaesthesia and the acid-base balance in the blood of experimental dogs.

An analysis of basic parameters representative of the acid-base balance was made in arterial blood samples from 140 clinically healthy dogs, under a general intravenous Thiopental anaesthesia. The following mean values +/- S.E.M. were obtained: pH = 7.33 +/- 0.01; pCO2 = 47.16 +/- 0.95; base excess = -2.12 +/- 0.27; buffer base = 46.63 +/- 0.37. The results showed a prevalent trend of lower values of pH, base excess and buffer base and higher values of pCO2 than those found commonly in human clinical practice. Special attention was paid to the respiratory component of the acid-base balance (ABB) revealing certain undesirable side effect of Thiopental anaesthesia.