ABSTRACT
The jugular bleed is used to collect relatively large volumes of blood. See the Appendix on page 79 for information on calculating the blood volume and maximum blood sample volume of the rat. The trainers at the Research Animal Resources Center (RARC) recommend using 10% of the total blood volume as the amount that can be collected at one time. To allow for an adequate recovery period, we further recommend that the maximum amount be withdrawn only once every 2 weeks (based on 10%). Daily samples can be collected as long as the cumulative blood volume does not exceed the calculated maximum over a 7-day period.
