engleski

Blood glucose in rat by simple rat restrain procedure or standard anaesthesia during sampling blood from tail vein

To collect blood samples from a rat’s tail vein, a restraining device or anaesthesia is needed. Commonly used methods are either restraining by wrapping a rat into a towel or using one plastic cylinder and standard anaesthesia with Ketamine/Xylazine. Exposing the rat to such procedures is potentially stressful and the animal might resist the procedure. We propose a simple, effective and harmless way to restrain a rat using two cylinders. Their dimameter si such that the smaller cylinder can be placed whithin the bigger one. The smaller cylinder is a plastic bottle without a cap and bottom, whish is narrow on one end. The cylinder with bigger diameter has a firmly attached lid on each end - one with one hole suitable to place the rat's tail, the other one with several smaler holes to enable a free flow of air for breathing. The need for touching the rat is minimal, since both cylinders can be placed into the cage and the rat can freely enter the smaller cylinder while moving around the cage. Within the cylinders, the rat cannot move and it is immobile, while the tail is freely accessible, making blood sampling safe and easy. we compared the influence os simple restraining method and anaesthesia on blood glucose level in rats of both genders. the results showed that anaesthesia with Ketamine/Xylazine increases blood glucose significantly more than simple method of restraining a rat. effect is measurable after 15 and 30 minutes from starting the procedure in all animals. Using this simple method of rat restraint with two cylinders reduces stress in laboratory rats caused by blood sampling and eliminates use of Ketamine/Xylazine anaesthesia wich causes a significant increase of blood glucose.

restraint device for rats ; ketamine/Xylatine anaesthesia ; blood glucose

Patent pending P20170909A