A Contemporary Warming/Restraining Device for Efficient Tail Vein Injections in a Murine Fungal Sepsis Model

In rodent models, tail vein injections are important methods for intravenous administration of experimental agents. Tail vein injections typically involve warming of the animal to promote vasodilation, which aids in both the identification of the blood vessels and positioning of the needle into the vessel lumen while securely restraining the animal. Although tail vein injections are common procedures in many protocols and are not considered highly technical if performed correctly, accurate and consistent injections are crucial to obtain reproducible results and minimize variability. Conventional methods for inducing vasodilation prior to tail vein injections generally depend on the use of a heat source such as a heat lamp, electrical/rechargeable heat pads, or pre-heated water at 37 °C. Despite being readily accessible in a standard laboratory setting, these tools evidently suffer from poor/limited thermo-regulatory capacity. Similarly, although various forms of restraining devices are commercially available, they must be used carefully to avoid trauma to the animals. These limitations of the current methods create unnecessary variables in experiments or result in varying outcomes between experiments and/or laboratories.

In this article, we demonstrate an improved protocol using an innovative device that combines an independent, thermally regulated, warming device with an adjustable restraining unit into one system for efficient streamlined tail vein injection. The example we use is an intravenous model of fungal bloodstream infection that results in sepsis. The warming apparatus consists of a heat-reflective acrylic box installed with an adjustable automatic thermostat to maintain the internal temperature at a pre-set threshold. Likewise, the width and height of the cone restraining apparatus can be adjusted to safely accommodate various rodent sizes. With the advanced and versatile features of the device, the technique shown here could become a useful tool across a range of research areas involving rodent models that employ tail vein injections.