Sarmazenil is a drug from the benzodiazepine

Benzodiazepine

A benzodiazepine is a psychoactive drug whose core chemical structure is the fusion of a benzene ring and a diazepine ring...

 family. It acts as a partial inverse agonist

Inverse agonist

In the field of pharmacology, an inverse agonist is an agent that binds to the same receptor as an agonist but induces a pharmacological response opposite to that agonist....

 of benzodiazepine receptors, meaning that it causes the opposite effects to most benzodiazepine drugs, and instead acts as an anxiogenic

Anxiogenic

An anxiogenic substance is one that causes anxiety. Anxiogenic effects can be measured by, for example, the hole-board test in rats and mice. A number of agents are used to provoke anxiety or panic in experimental models...

 and convulsant

Convulsant

A convulsant is a drug which induces convulsions and/or epileptic seizures, the opposite of an anticonvulsant. These drugs generally act as stimulants at low doses, but are not used for this purpose due to the risk of convulsions and consequent excitotoxicity...

. It is used in veterinary medicine

Veterinary medicine

Veterinary Medicine is the branch of science that deals with the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease, disorder and injury in non-human animals...

to reverse the effects of benzodiazepine sedative drugs in order to rapidly re-awaken anaethetised animals.