Where is the preferred blood source?
Venous blood
Which vein is the best for collection?
Jugular vein
What is a Vacutainer composed of?
- needle
- needle holder
- tubing
- collection tubes
What does the amount of blood collected depend on?
- amount of plasma or serum needed
- hydration status of animal
How much blood should be taken?
Enough to run the required tests 3 times
What is Serum or Plasma?
Fluid portion of whole blood
What is the % of the fluid portion of blood?
- 90% water
- 10% dissolved constituents like protein, vitamins, carbs, hormones etc…
What is Plasma?
- Does contain clotting factors
- clotting factors known as fibrin
What is Serum?
Plasma that has had the clotting factors removed
What are Anticoagulants?
Chemicals that prevent or delay the clotting factors
When should a sample be refrigerated?
After 1 hour
What is Red Topped Tube?
- contains nothing
- used for whole blood
- used for serum samples
What is Serum Seperator/ Tiger Topped Tube?
- no anti coagulant
- has yellowish plug of clot activation gel
- separates serum from cells when spun
- used for serum samples
- NOT used for therapeutic drug level monitoring
What is Lavender/Purple Topped Tubes?
- contains anticoagulant EDTA (ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid)
- used for plasma samples
- used for whole blood samples
- used for complete blood counts
- doesn’t alter cell morphology
What is Grey Topped Tube?
- contains anticoagulant Sodium Fluoride
- best for glucose preservation
- interferes with many other tests performed on serum
What is Blue Topped Tube?
- contains anticoagulant Sodium Citrate
- commonly used in transfusion
- Na Citrate interferes with Na assays and many common serum tests
What is Green Topped Tube?
- contains anticoagulant Neparin
- can be used for most tests that require plasma samples
- shouldn’t be used for differential blood film analysis because anticoagulants interfere with the staining of the WBCs
What is Hematology?
Study of blood
Why is Hematology important?
- evaluation of disease states
- screening for well animals as a baseline
- pre anesthetic screening
- drug level monitoring
What is Hematopoiesis?
-production of all blood cells,platelets, and pluripotent
What is Pack Cell Volume?
- measuring the percent of cells in a patient’s blood
- if animal is dehydrated, the fluid portion of blood will be lower
What is a Hematocrit?
Fastest and easiest way to determine number of RBCs
What will PCV tell you?
If animal is anemic or dehydrated
What is the normal PCV for canines?
37-55%
