Sampling Cerebrospinal Fluid and Blood from Lateral Tail Vein in Rats During EEG Recordings

Summary

The protocol shows repeated cerebrospinal fluid and blood collections from epileptic rats performed in parallel with continuous video-electroencephalogram (EEG) monitoring. These are instrumental for exploring possible links between changes in various body fluid molecules and seizure activity.

Abstract

Because the composition of body fluids reflects many physiological and pathological dynamics, biological liquid samples are commonly obtained in many experimental contexts to measure molecules of interest, such as hormones, growth factors, proteins, or small non-coding RNAs. A specific example is the sampling of biological liquids in the research of biomarkers for epilepsy. In these studies, it is desirable to compare the levels of molecules in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and in plasma, by withdrawing CSF and plasma in parallel and considering the time distance of the sampling from and to seizures. The combined CSF and plasma sampling, coupled with video-EEG monitoring in epileptic animals, is a promising approach for the validation of putative diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers. Here, a procedure of combined CSF withdrawal from cisterna magna and blood sampling from the lateral tail vein in epileptic rats that are continuously video-EEG monitored is described. This procedure offers significant advantages over other commonly used techniques. It permits rapid sampling with minimal pain or invasiveness, and reduced time of anesthesia. Additionally, it can be used to obtain CSF and plasma samples in both tethered and telemetry EEG recorded rats, and it may be used repeatedly across multiple days of experiment. By minimizing the stress due to sampling by shortening isoflurane anesthesia, measures are expected to reflect more accurately the true levels of investigated molecules in biofluids. Depending on the availability of an appropriate analytical assay, this technique may be used to measure the levels of multiple, different molecules while performing EEG recording at the same time.

Introduction

Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and blood sampling are important to identify and validate biomarkers of epilepsy, in both preclinical and clinical research^1,2. Nowadays, the diagnosis of epilepsy and most of the research on epilepsy biomarkers focus on EEG and neuroimaging^3,4,5. These approaches, however, present several limitations. Apart from routine scalp measurements, in many cases, EEG requires invasive techniques like depth electrodes⁶. Brain imaging methods have poor temporal and spatial resol....

Protocol

All experimental procedures have been approved by the University of Ferrara Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee and by the Italian Ministry of Health (authorization: D.M. 603/2022-PR) in accordance with guidelines outlined in the European Communities Council Directive of 24 November 1986 (86/609/EEC) on the protection of animals used for experimental and other scientific purposes. This protocol is specifically adjusted for further quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) analyses of small non-coding ribonucl.......

Discussion

The present work illustrates an easy-to-master technique of CSF and blood collection in rats, which may be useful not only for studies in models of epilepsy but also of other neurological conditions or diseases such as Alzheimer, Parkinson, or multiple sclerosis. In epilepsy research, both sampling procedures coupled with video-EEG are ideal when a correlation between the levels of different soluble molecules and seizure activity is pursued. For this specific reason, a continuous video-EEG recording was employed: i) in o.......

Materials

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
Blood collection set BD Vacutainer Safety-Lok	BD Italy SpA, Milan, Italy	367246	Material
Blood Collection tubes (Microtainer K2E)	BD Italy SpA, Milan, Italy	365975	Material
Butterfly Winged Infusion Set 23G x 3/4'' 0.6 x 19 mm	Nipro, Osaka, Japan	PSY-23-ET-ICU	Material
Centrifuge refrigerated ALC PK 130R	DJB Labcare Ltd, Buckinghamshire, England	112000033	Material
Cotton suture 3-0	Ethicon, Johnson & Johnson surgical technologies, Raritan, New Jersey, USA	7343H	Material
Diazepam 5 mg/2ml, Solupam	Dechra Veterinary Products, Torino, Italy	105183014 (AIC)	Solution
Digital video 8-channel media recorder system of telemetry EEG set up	Data Sciences International (DSI), St Paul, MN, USA	PNM-VIDEO-008	Equipment
Digital video surveillance system of tethered EEG set up	EZVIZ Network, Hangzhou, Cina	EZVIZ (V5.3.2)	Equipment
Disinfectant based on stabilized peroxides and quaternary ammonium activity	Laboratoire Garcin-Bactinyl, France	LB 920111	Solution
Dummy guide cannula 8 mm	Agn Tho's, Lindigö, Sweden	CXD-8	Material
Electrode 3-channel two-twisted	Invivo1, Plastic One, Roanoke, Virginia, USA	MS333/3-B/SPC	Material
Electrode holder for stereotxic surgery	Agn Tho's, Lindigö, Sweden	1776-P1	Equipment
Eppendorf BioSpectrometer basic	Eppendorf AG, Hamburg, Germany	6137	Equipment
Eppendorf PCR Tubes 0.2 mL	Eppendorf Srl, Milan, Italy	30124332	Material
Eppendorf μCuvette G1.0	Eppendorf AG, Hamburg, Germany	6138	Equipment
Feeding needle flexible 17G for rat	Agn Tho's, Lindigö Sweden	7206	Material
Grass Technology apparatus	Grass Technologies, Natus Neurology Incorporated, Pleasanton, California, USA	M665G08	Equipment (AS40 amplifier, head box, interconnecting cables, telefactor model RPSA S40)
Isoflurane 100%, IsoFlo	Zoetis, Rome, Italy	103287025 (AIC)	Solution
Ketamine (Imalgene)	Merial, Toulouse, France	221300288 (AIC)	Solution
Lithium chloride	Sigma-Aldrich, Milan, Italy	L9650	Material
Microinjection cannula 31G 9 mm	Agn Tho's, Lindigö Sweden	CXMI-9	Material
MP150 modular data acquisition and analysis system	Biopac, Goleta, California, USA	MP150WSW	Equipment
Ophthalmic vet ointment, Hylo night	Ursapharm, Milan, Italy	941791927 (AIC)	Material
Pilocarpine hydrochloride	Sigma-Aldrich, Milan, Italy	P6503	Material
PTFE Tube with joint	Agn Tho's, Lindigö, Sweden	JT-10	Material
Saline	0.9% NaCl, pH adjusted to 7.0		Solution
Scopolamine hydrobromide trihydrate	Sigma-Aldrich, Milan, Italy	S2250	Material
Scopolamine methyl nitrate	Sigma-Aldrich, Milan, Italy	S1876	Material
Silver sulfadiazine 1% cream	Sofar, Trezzano Rosa, Milan, Italy	025561010 (AIC)	Material
Simplex rapid dental methacrylic cement	Kemdent, Associated Dental Products Ltd, Swindon, United Kingdom	ACR811	Material
Stereotaxic apparatus	David Kopf Instruments, Los Angeles, CA, USA	Model 963	Equipment
Sucrose solution	10% sucrose in distilled water	Home-made	Solution
Syringe 1 mL	Biosigma, Cona, Venezia, Italy	20,71,26,03,00,350	Material
Telemeters	Data Sciences International (DSI), St Paul, MN, USA	CTA-F40	Material
Telemetry EEG traces analyzer	Data Sciences International (DSI), St Paul, MN, USA	NeuroScore v3-0	Equipment
Telemetry system	Data Sciences International (DSI), St Paul, MN, USA	Hardware plus software Ponemah core 6.51	Equipment
Xylazine hydrochloride	Sigma-Aldrich, Milan, Italy	X1251	Material