E-News and Reviews:
Retro-orbital route for IV injection delivery
This helpful hint here is brought to you courtesy of Sherilyn Hall, one of the veterinarian staff at Washington University at St. Louis. If you are like me, you're not wonderfully proficient at giving mice IV injection through the tail vein, and any such attempt is a hit or miss affair. The following is a description of an alternative route to the tail vein for IV injection. As with all such procedures, you will want to ensure that your subject is anaesthetized (we use Metafane as an inhalant). Instead of attempting to inject your compound through the tail vein, a periorbital route is suggested. Using a 27g hypodermic needle, carefully introduce the tip in front of the eye with the bevel outermost. You will be able to follow the edge of the orbit down until you can feel the needle tip at the base beneath the eye, where you can easily inject 0.2 cc without adverse effects in an adult animal. If done carefully, there will be little or no bleeding and keeping the bevel outward should protect the mouse's eye from being scratched. The solution being injected will be rapidly taken up by the capillary nexus at this site. Whilst not always the preferred route of administration, this technique offers a valuable tool in allowing personnel to quickly learn IV injection, not to mention reducing any trauma for the subject animal where this technique is appropriate.
