Abstract
Various routes have been used for obtaining blood from rats. Some of these are: the heart, femoral vein, and the tail. AH these routes have been found unsatisfactory for our work. The heart puncture is too dangerous since the number of accidents and deaths is very large. The tail was found unsatisfactory since the amount of blood one could get was small. It also exposes the animal to infection. The femoral vein is very small in rats. We were not able to locate it without cutting the skin. The jugular vein is by far the largest of the peripheral vessels of the rat. Blood may be drawn from it without much difficulty because of the ease in locating it by its pronounced pulsation. The jugular vein of the rat runs anteriorly ever the clavicle about 10 mm. from the middle of the sternum.
If a rat is given a little ether, placed on its back on a board and tied so that the head is approximately one inch lower than the rest of the body, the hair clipped over the clavicle, it is easy to locate the jugular by the pulsation and to feel the clavicle. With the clavicle to support the vessel and the pulsation to direct us, it is not difficult to place the needle into the vessel. This same route has been used by us for injecting various substances and also for transfusing rats.
It has also been found possible to collect blood from rats according to the above technique without the use of an anesthetic.
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