A Mouse Holder for Securing Tail Blood.

Abstract

In order to obtain blood from the tails of several hundred mice for biochemical analyses,1 it became imperative to devise a satisfactory holder for the animals. Cages made of glass tubing shaped in the general form of a Gooch crucible holder have proved their usefulness for more than two years. The animal is confined comfortably within the tube, projecting its snout into the stem by which in turn the tube is held by a clamp attached to an iron support. This form of cage is an adaptation of holders for rats made from bottles from which the bottoms have been cut, and which have been used in this laboratory over a number of years.Unlike the cloth case of Shadle and Sharupinski2 which exposes only the head of the animal, the glass holder illustrated allows the use of the unrestricted tail from which, when punctured, blood may be drawn easily and quickly into micropipettes. In terms of the blood sample taken, accurate analytical results depend upon not only the exactness of the calibration3 of the pipettes use...