54 Indian Journal of Animal Sciences 89(10): 1086–1090, October 2019/Article Analgesic, antipyretic and anti-inflammatory efficacy of ketorolac in the chicks Y J MOUSA College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Mosul, Mosul 410 02 Iraq Received: 9 November 2018; Accepted: 20 March 2019 ABSTRACT Now-a-days, there is a need for newly, non-addicted and effective analgesics with less side effects. Therefore, the present study evaluated the analgesic, antipyretic and anti-inflammatory efficacy of ketorolac in 7–21 days old broiler chicks and its possible application in the related field. The analgesic median effective dose (ED 50 ) of ketorolac that caused analgesia in 50% of the chicks was 9.1 mg/kg, intramuscular (IM). Ketorolac caused analgesic and antipyretic effects at multiple doses (5, 10 and 20 mg/kg, IM) in a dose dependent manner, whereas these percentages were significantly higher when ketorolac was injected @ 10 and 20 mg/kg, IM. All times recorded (15, 30, 60 and 120 min) for evaluating the analgesic effect of ketorolac produced analgesia while the higher and better analgesic efficacy was observed at 15 min after ketorolac injection. The injection of ketorolac @ 20 mg/kg, IM exerted anti-inflammatory activity by significantly reducing the right paw thickness of the chicks as a result of formaldehyde injection in comparison to control. There was no liver damage, impaired metabolism and function may be attributed to the ketorolac treatment in the chicks which was evaluated through estimation of serum AST and ALT concentrations. The study suggests the benefit of using ketorolac as an analgesic, antipyretic and anti- inflammatory drug in the field of veterinary medicine due to its good, reliable and efficient efficacy. Key words: Analgesia, Anti-inflammation, Antipyresis, Chicks, Ketorolac Present address: Assistant Professor (yarub204@yahoo.com), Department of Physiology, Biochemistry and Pharmacology, College of Veterinary Medicine. Ketorolac is considered as one of the most famous agents that belongs to the first generation of the non-steroidal anti- inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) which have a therapeutic benefit for preventing nociception thus producing analgesia as well as its effect on lowering the pyresis and its anti- inflammatory action (Resman-Targoff 1990, Finkel et al. 2009, Smyth and FitzGerald 2009, Hilal-Dandan and Brunton 2014, Soleimanpour et al. 2016). Ketorolac’s action in the body are achieved by the reversible non-selective inhibition of the cyclooxygenase (COX) (COX1 and COX2 isoform) enzyme, thus interrupting arachidonic acid from converting to prostaglandins and relieving the pain, fever and inflammation produced (Botting 2006, Finkel et al. 2009, Smyth and Fitz Gerald 2009, Hilal-Dandan and Brunton 2014). Ketorolac benefits as peripheral analgesics to manage moderate to severe pain and have few side effects only and considered a good approved, effective parenteral drug, cheaper and economic analgesics unlike other central opioids analgesic like tramadol and morphine which causes a serious side effects like respiratory depression and drug abuse (Jelinek 2000, Ollé et al. 2000, Rainer et al. 2000, Shankariah et al. 2012, Hendarman et al. 2014). The ketorolac’s effect on non-opioid receptors lessens the risk of potentially additive side effects such as hemodynamic changes, central nervous system changes, or respiratory depression (Shankariah et al. 2012, Rai and Kiran 2013). Ketorolac is useful for the postoperative nociceptive cure due to both pain and inflammation caused by surgery while opioids, in contrast, do not provide anti-inflammatory activity in this setting and have also a narrow therapeutic index (O’Hanlon et al. 1996, Macario and Lipman 2001, Gupta et al. 2001). The previous studies on ketorolac did not deal with the benefit of using it as a first choice drug for relieving pain, fever and inflammation in the chicken and other animals. The goal of this study was to evaluate the analgesic, antipyretic and anti-inflammatory actions of ketorolac for the first time in chicken species and its possible applicability in the related field. MATERIALS AND METHODS Animals: Broiler chicks (Ross species) 7–21 days old weighing between 48–125 g were used in this study. They were kept in cages at a constant temperature of 32–35°C with continuous lighting and the litter consisted of wood shavings. The chicks had free access to drinking water and feed ad lib. Ketorolac (3% as ketorolac, Normon, Spain) was diluted in physiological normal saline to prepare the doses at a volume of injection of 5 ml/kg body weight, IM. Ethics: Ethical considerations related to this study were approved by the scientific committee of the College of