Validation and optimisation of an automatic blood sampler for preclinical positron emission tomography research in
Sofia Vestergaard Nielsen1, Mie Ringgaard Dollerup1, Simone Larsen Bærentzen1
1Department of Nuclear Medicine and PET Centre, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University Hospital and Aarhus University, Denmark.
Abstract:
In preclinical positron emission tomography animal studies, continuous blood sampling is used to measure the time course of the activity concentration in arterial blood. However, pigs have hypercoagulable blood that tends to clot inside plastic tubes. We tested several tube materials and lengths and the use of three-way connectors. We validated set-ups for automated blood sampling with and without blood recirculation that could run for 90 minutes without problematic clots and without any evidence of emboli formation during necropsy.
