Hi dear all,
I will administrate plant extracts orally (per os) to rats. What are the precautions ?, which kind of syringe should I use for both mice and rats ?, what if the oesophagus is damaged ? ... any advice !
Many thanks !
with the using ( blind curved needle) with a round bead in the beginning, joined to insulin syringe (G 26) to avoid esophageal damage you can put the the round bead on the back of the tong and push slowlly to allow the animal to swallow. the volume of dose should not exceed 0.2 ml in mice and 0.5 ml in rats.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gl4oH3PQKDc
many videos in youtube show the exact way you
dont need to introduce gavage to oesophagus
let the animal sowllow the drug normally
with the using ( blind curved needle) with a round bead in the beginning, joined to insulin syringe (G 26) to avoid esophageal damage you can put the the round bead on the back of the tong and push slowlly to allow the animal to swallow. the volume of dose should not exceed 0.2 ml in mice and 0.5 ml in rats.
You can use oral gavage needle for both mice and rats to administer the drug orally. It doesnt cause any damage to the animals throat or oesophagus, before that you practice well with the researchers.
Use oral cannula with a round ball-like bead at the tip as shown in the figure above. The syringe is usually a 1mL type, because all you want to administer (plant extract) usually may not exceed 1mL.
Follow these simple steps:
1. Reconstitute your plant extract using a suitable non-toxic vehicle (this will be determined by the solvent used for the extraction. If it is aqueous extract, water is the best vehicle. If an organic solvent is used like ethanol, methanol, petroleum ether, chloroform, the extract will be oily, so you can't use water as reconstituting vehicle, except the extract has been defatted by n-hexane. If not, the best vehicle will be something that is also miscible with oil and non-toxic including corn oil, olive oil etc. The purpose of reconstituting with vehicle is to enable you pick the extract in syringe and be delivered into the animals (rat or mouse).
2. Once the extract has been picked by the syringe and the oral cannula has been fixed to it, hold the the fleshy part at the back of the animal towards the head and insert the cannula into the throat of the animal, and gently release the content into the animal.
I hope you will find this explanation useful.
