Sampling Blood from the Lateral Tail Vein of the Rat
Author(s)
Lee, Graham; Goosens, Ki Ann
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Blood samples are commonly obtained in many experimental contexts to measure targets of interest, including hormones, immune factors, growth factors, proteins, and glucose, yet the composition of the blood is dynamically regulated and easily perturbed. One factor that can change the blood composition is the stress response triggered by the sampling procedure, which can contribute to variability in the measures of interest. Here we describe a procedure for blood sampling from the lateral tail vein in the rat. This procedure offers significant advantages over other more commonly used techniques. It permits rapid sampling with minimal pain or invasiveness, without anesthesia or analgesia. Additionally, it can be used to obtain large volume samples (upwards of 1 ml in some rats), and it may be used repeatedly across experimental days. By minimizing the stress response and pain resulting from blood sampling, measures can more accurately reflect the true basal state of the animal, with minimal influence from the sampling procedure itself.
Date issued
2015-05Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences; McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MITJournal
Journal of Visualized Experiments
Publisher
MyJoVE Corporation
Citation
Lee, Graham, and Ki A. Goosens. “Sampling Blood from the Lateral Tail Vein of the Rat.” JoVE no. 99 (2015). doi:10.3791/52766.
Version: Final published version
ISSN
1940-087X