NIH Animal Research Advisory Committee Guidelines for Survival Bleeding of Mice and Rats

These guidelines have been developed to assist investigators and National Institutes of Health (NIH) Animal Care and Use Committees (ACUC) in their choice and application of survival rodent bleeding techniques.The guidelines are based on peer-reviewed publications as well as on data and experience accumulated at NIH.

The guidelines refer to the most frequently used survival sampling sites:

• retro-orbital
• mandibular
• saphenous
• tail and
• jugular.

Blood withdrawal by cardiac puncture is considered a euthanasia procedure by NIH and is not listed here. A list of the issues that should guide the choice of survival blood collection route(s) is noted, and an abbreviated summary is provided in table form.

For more guidance on bleeding mice and rats, please click here.

The guidelines can be found here.