I had been given the opportunity to handle rats and dissect them to collect fresh tissues for my experiment. Now i will share with you how to dissect a rat to obtain its arterial blood.
Firstly, the rat was recorded for its weight and anaesthesia was given to it accordingly. Then the rat would go lose consciousness about 5-10 minutes after intraperitoneal administration. A toothed forceps is then used to pinch the rat's feet to make sure that it has totally lost consiousness. Then, we use the back of the forceps (blunt) to poke its eye. If it still has the ability to blink, it means that the rat is still conscious and we have to wait for a while more before the surgery can begin.
When the rat has lost all consciousness, we lay the rat face-up and using a forcep, lift the skin from the neck area and cut a hole using the surgical scissors. Using a pair of arterial forceps, we then separate the neck muscles to locate the vein of the rat (which is light purple in colour). Once located, a slit is made using a vannas scissors and a cannula is inserted into the vein to infuse saline into the rat so that it does not get dehydrated. Then the cannula is tied to the vein using thread. The artery is then located (thicker than the vein and is redder) and lifted upwards. We must make sure that only the artery is lifted up and not with other nerves or connective tissues. Using the arterial forceps, we stretch the artery (artery is elastic) to stop the blood from flowing so that when we make a slit, the blood does not spurt out. Then a slit is made using the vannas scissors and a cannula which is connected to a syringe that was pre-rinsed with heparinized saline, so that the blood collected would not clot, would be inserted into the artery. Blood is then drawn from the artery into the syringe and then placed into a falcon tube and then centrifuged.
Vannas scissors
Retrieved on June 28, 2009 from website http://www.wpi-europe.com/images/microdissection/images/501778-from-14003.jpg
Arterial forceps
Retrieved on June 28, 2009 from website http://www.oncallmedicalsupplies.com/acatalog/7908large.jpg
Forceps
Retrieved on June 28, 2009 from website http://merrickmedical.com/images/forceps.jpg
Please feel free to ask questions if you do not understand any of things i have written above.
Loves,
Renee
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