Azlina Zulkapli*, Inirah Che Ishak, Zubaidah Che Lem
1. Laboratory Animal Resource Unit (LARU), Special Resource Centre, Institute for Medical Research, National Institute of Health, Ministry of Health Malaysia, Jalan Pahang, 50588 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
*Corresponding author: Azlina binti Zulkapli, Laboratory Animal Resource Unit (LARU), Special Resource Centre, Institute for Medical Research, National Institute of Health, Ministry of Health Malaysia, Jalan Pahang, 50588 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
CITATION: Zulkapli A, Che Ishak I, Che Lem Z. Terminal blood collection in rats and mice: facilitation of cardiac puncture technique by anaesthesia procedures. International Medical Research Journal. 2023 Jun;9(1):29–35.
ABSTRACT
Rodent families such as rats and mice are the most common lower rank animals preferred by researchers due to the many beneficial factors they bear for research investigations. One of the methods mostly used by researchers in the Institute for Medical Research (IMR) for their studies is the cardiac puncture technique facilitated by anaesthesia. This method requires general anaesthesia due to the pain that the procedure elicits in the rats and mice. During intracardiac phlebotomy, new and inexperienced researchers commonly encounter the death of animals due to injury of the thoracic cavity from multiple stabs of needles. Improper anaesthesia techniques may also cause failure in blood collection or an insufficient volume of blood obtained, which may affect data analysis and interpretation later. The anaesthesia drug of choice is either isoflurane for gas anaesthetic or a combination of Ketamine-xylazine via the intraperitoneal cavity. It is strongly suggested to use isoflurane gas in toxicity research as it does not cause any organ abnormalities. Thus, the aim of this article is to emphasise the protocol, anaesthesia drug of choice, benefits and drawbacks of the cardiac puncture method for researchers in IMR.
KEYWORDS: Rats and mice, Cardiac puncture, Institute for Medical Research
