A new blood sampling method for smaller anurans that preserves critical features of specimens

Obtaining adequate blood samples is vital for most studies involving immunology or physiology. Anurans present a particular challenge for obtaining adequate samples, largely because of their relatively small size compared to other vertebrates. Here, we propose a new method for obtaining large amounts of blood from the ventral abdominal vein of euthanized frogs, which we call the lethal abdominal vein of anurans (LAVA) technique. We tested this method on the locally common Wood Frog (Lithobates sylvaticus). Using the LAVA technique, we were able to collect blood from 100% of frogs. Each frog yielded an average of 38 µL of plasma after centrifugation. We also found that neither size, ambient temperature, nor site affected our blood yields. We show that the LAVA technique is an easy-to-use method that yields high amounts of blood from anurans, and could be potentially viable in other small vertebrates.

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Work Title A new blood sampling method for smaller anurans that preserves critical features of specimens
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Open Access
Creators
  1. Swierk, Lindsey
  2. Smylie, Meredith S.
  3. Owen, Dustin Alexander
Keyword
  1. Lithobates sylvaticus
  2. Abdominal vein
  3. Technique
  4. Method
  5. Anuran
  6. Blood Sample
  7. Frog
License CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 (Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives)
Work Type Video
Deposited July 21, 2017

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Version 1
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  • Created
  • Added LAVA_frog_2017.mp4
  • Added Creator Swierk, Lindsey
  • Added Creator Smylie, Meredith S.
  • Added Creator Owen, Dustin Alexander
  • Published
  • Updated