Abstract: Objective To explore the anesthetic effects of repeated administration of propofol combined with vitamin C in mice.
Methods Forty mice were subjected to daily intraperitoneal injections of 80 mg/kg propofol (P80 group), 70 mg/kg propofol
and 50 mg/kg vitamin C (P70 +Vc50 group), 55 mg/kg propofol and 100 mg/kg vitamin C (P55 +Vc100 group), or 50 mg/kg
propofol and 200 mg/kg vitamin C (P50 + Vc200 group) for 6 consecutive days, and the anesthesia induction time and
anesthesia duration were recorded. Results Compared with the P80 group, the mice in P55 + Vc100 group and P50 + Vc200
group showed significantly shorter anesthesia duration on the first 3 days (P<0.05). In all the groups, anesthesia duration was
significantly shortened in the following days compared with that on day 1 (P<0.01); anesthesia duration was shorter on day 3
than on day 2 in P50 + Vc200 group (P<0.01), and was shorter on days 4, 5, and 6 than on day 2 in all the groups (P<0.01). In all
the groups, the rate of loss of righting reflex (LORR) decreased gradually with time in a similar pattern. Conclusions Vitamin
C can reduce the dose of propofol without obviously affecting the anesthetic effect to reduce the incidence of drug tolerance
and potential dose-related side effects of propofol.