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Blood collection from the tail of a rat

  • Clinical Techniques
  • Published:
Lab Animal

Abstract

Techniques for blood collection from the rat include puncture of the heart, retro-orbital plexus, jugular vein, saphenous vein, tail blood vessels, carotid artery, abdominal aorta, and vena cava. Most techniques (except saphenous vein and tail blood vessel puncture) require anesthesia. The following discussion focuses on two methods of blood collection — ventral tail artery puncture and dorsal or lateral tail vein puncture.

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Figure 1: Diagram of a transverse sectional view of a rat tail showing the dorsal vein (DV), lateral veins (LV), and ventral artery (VA).
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References

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Authors
  1. Cyndi Brown
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Brown, C. Blood collection from the tail of a rat. Lab Anim 35, 24–25 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/laban0906-24

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/laban0906-24

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