-
Clear the fix and wash bottle lines of any air bubbles. Sufficient
perfusion pressure is obtained with the bottles 100-120 cm above the
animal (but no more!).
-
Run wash solution through cannula to remove any fix from lines. Set
at a slow drip.
-
Place the heavily anesthetized animal on its back on a rack or
paraffin block over a sink. Note: A barbiturate type of anesthesia is
highly preferred to gaseous types such as Fluothane, with which
vessels tend to constrict resulting in poor perfusion.
-
Spread the forelimbs and secure each paw to the rack with a
surgical towel clamp or a pin if on a paraffin block. Start running
faucet water.
-
Make a cut along the sternum ~8 cm long, low enough to expose the
sternum's end.
-
Grasp end of sternum with a 5" hemostat. Use sharp scissors to cut
diaphragm laterally on both sides and cut toward the head across ribs
and parallel to lungs.
-
If brain tissue is all that is desired, clamp the descending aorta
(not necessary for mice). With a mosquito hemostat, reflect one lung
and locate the descending aorta as it runs along the spinal column.
Clamp it and allow the lung to return.
-
Release the hose clamp on the perfusion tube so that the fluid is
just barely passing out of the cannula tip.
-
With left hand, use a small pair of rat tooth forceps to grasp
ventral tip of the heart.
-
With right hand, use a #11 scalpel with blade edge out (away from
heart) and pierce the left ventricle, allowing the blade to penetrate
far enough to make the slit large enough for the cannula tip.
-
Quickly remove blade and lower heart to prevent spurts from the
long incision.
-
With right hand, insert the cannula and direct it up through the
left ventricle into the ascending aorta. Stop when the tip of the
cannula is visible within the aorta. The cannula
selected should be as large as possible, and should approach the
diameter of the ascending aorta. (A cannula too small will not deliver
the volume quickly enough).
-
Maintain placement of the cannula in the left hand, holding the
cannula and forceps together, side by side. With the right hand free,
use the rubber-tipped hemostats to clamp around the aorta, holding the
tip of the cannula in place. (Clamping is difficult or not feasible in
mice so the cannula/ needle must be held while perfusing.)
-
With left hand, release the cannula and forceps from heart and
close the wash line clamp. Or you may choose to allow more wash before
fix.
-
Fully open the fix line clamp and perfusion tube clamp.
-
With left hand, use the teeth of the rat tooth forceps or scissors
to puncture the right auricle, allowing the escape of return
circulation.
-
For rats, allow 200 to 250 cc of fix to flow. For mice, allow
50-100 cc of fix to flow. Consider the perfusion a dialysis process,
exchanging formaldehyde and water, rather than a ‘flushing’ process.
-
Close both clamps and remove perfusion instruments. Remove skin from
head and decapitate at a level even with forelimbs. Place head in a
container filled with perfusion fix solution. Removal of the skin is
preferred.
