Marc Fluttert1, Sergiu Dalm1, Melly S. Oitzl1
1Leiden/Amsterdam Centre for Drug Research, Division of Medical Pharmacology, PO Box 9503, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands
Tóm tắt
Levels of endogenous or administered substances can be estimated by blood sampling. This allows an evaluation of the relationship between clinical signs, physiological parameters, pharmacological treatments and behaviour of the animal. We show that blood samples can be taken occasionally as well as sequentially by means of a small incision at the end of the rats' tails. Up to 300 μl of blood can be collected within 90s. The advantages of this method are: (i) anaesthesia and surgery or restraint of the animal are not necessary, (ii) the procedure can be considered stress-free as indicated by the low, basal levels of the stress hormone corticosterone, even with frequent sequential blood sampling over 3 h, and (iii) it can be used for longitudinal studies allowing intra-individual comparisons over months and even years. Blood samples collected via an intravenous catheter and, at the same time, by our tail incision method resulted in comparable amounts of corticosterone. Moreover, we consider the tail incision method for rats to be 'animal-friendly' and a real alternative to other conventionally used blood sampling techniques.
