Frontiers corrects funding disclosure on sheep etorphine study
Bottom line
Frontiers in Veterinary Science has published a correction to the July 13, 2026, research article on early cardiovascular and respiratory changes after etorphine immobilization and naltrexone reversal in sheep. The correction, published September 16, 2026, does not change the study’s data, methods, or conclusions. Instead, it updates the funding statement to add that open access funding was provided by the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna; the article had already acknowledged support from a scholarship from the Chulabhorn Royal Academy in Bangkok, Thailand. (frontiersin.org)
The original study remains relevant for clinicians and researchers working with wildlife anesthesia and ungulate medicine. In six sheep used as a model for wild ungulates, investigators found that etorphine was followed by early pulmonary hypertension, then progressive hypoventilation and hypoxemia, while naltrexone rapidly improved ventilation but did not normalize pulmonary arterial pressure or hypoxemia within the short observation window. For veterinary professionals, the correction is mainly about transparency in funding disclosures, but it also puts fresh attention on a paper with practical implications for monitoring during ultra-potent opioid immobilization and reversal. (frontiersin.org)
What to watch: Whether this sheep model informs follow-on studies or protocol changes aimed at reducing pulmonary vascular complications during etorphine immobilization in wildlife and other ungulates. (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
Key facts
- Article type
- Correction notice
- Correction date
- September 16, 2026
- Original article date
- July 13, 2026
- Study species
- Sheep
- Sample size
- Six sheep
- Intervention
- Intramuscular etorphine, 0.05 mg/kg
- Reversal
- Intravenous naltrexone, 1 mg/kg, 26 minutes later
- Correction detail
- University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna added as open access funder
- Main finding
- Naltrexone rapidly improved ventilation, but pulmonary arterial pressure and hypoxemia did not normalize within 10 minutes
A correction published September 16, 2026, updates the funding disclosure for a Frontiers in Veterinary Science paper examining early cardiorespiratory effects of etorphine immobilization and naltrexone reversal in sheep. According to the notice, the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna was mistakenly omitted from the funding statement and has now been added as the provider of open access funding. The correction says the original article has been updated. (frontiersin.org)
That may sound minor, but it matters because the original paper, published July 13, 2026, addresses a clinically important problem in wildlife and ungulate anesthesia: what happens in the first minutes after etorphine administration, and what improves, or doesn’t, after reversal. The study used sheep as a model for wild ungulates, reflecting the ongoing need for controlled data in a field where direct physiologic monitoring in free-ranging species is often difficult. (frontiersin.org)
In the original experiment, six sheep were immobilized with intramuscular etorphine at 0.05 mg/kg and then reversed 26 minutes later with intravenous naltrexone at 1 mg/kg. The animals were instrumented with arterial and pulmonary arterial catheters plus electrical impedance tomography, allowing minute-by-minute tracking of hemodynamic and respiratory changes. The authors reported that pulmonary hypertension emerged first, beginning around minute 3 after etorphine, followed by progressive hypoventilation and hypoxemia over roughly minutes 5 to 9. (frontiersin.org)
One of the more useful findings for anesthesia teams was what happened after reversal. Naltrexone rapidly improved ventilation from the first minute after injection, but pulmonary arterial pressure and hypoxemia did not normalize during the 10-minute post-reversal observation period. The authors argued that this pattern supports a role for pulmonary vascular dysfunction, and likely ventilation-perfusion mismatch, rather than hypoventilation alone, in the severe oxygenation problems seen with etorphine immobilization. (frontiersin.org)
Additional literature helps place those findings in context. A related 2025-2026 controlled trial in etorphine-immobilized sheep also described expected adverse effects including bradypnea, pulmonary hypertension, tachycardia, and reduced stroke volume, reinforcing that these physiologic changes are not isolated observations. Earlier work in sheep and goats likewise suggested that many cardiorespiratory disturbances from etorphine can improve after antagonism, while also underscoring how unstable the immobilization period can be. (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
No outside expert commentary specifically about this correction was readily available in the public sources reviewed. Still, the correction itself is straightforward: it concerns disclosure, not scientific content. For veterinary professionals, that distinction is important. The paper’s practical message appears unchanged, and the added funding acknowledgment improves transparency around institutional support for publication. (frontiersin.org)
Why it matters: For veterinarians involved in zoo, wildlife, research, or advanced anesthesia settings, the bigger story is the underlying paper, not the correction. The work adds granular evidence that pulmonary vascular changes may precede and outlast some of the ventilatory effects of etorphine. That has implications for how teams monitor immobilized ungulates, how quickly they intervene with oxygenation and reversal strategies, and how they interpret a patient that appears to be breathing better but may still be physiologically compromised. The correction also serves as a reminder that funding disclosures are part of research integrity, even when they don’t alter the results. (frontiersin.org)
What to watch: The next step is whether these findings drive interventional studies, protocol refinements, or species-specific monitoring recommendations designed to blunt pulmonary hypertension and persistent hypoxemia during and after etorphine-based immobilization. (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)