Real-time ultrasound-guided needle injection of the mouse jugular vein.

ABSTRACT

This unit describes a novel method for direct venous injection into mice that offers potentially significant advantages over commonly used mouse vein injection techniques. This is achieved via percutaneous needle placement into the mouse jugular vein under real-time B-mode ultrasound (US) imaging. Real-time US imaging of the injection process allows for immediate determination of the overall success of injection. Unique, and potentially significant, advantages of this technique over others include (1) direct visual confirmation of needle tip placement in the lumen of the vein, (2) immediate visual detection of extravascular extravasation of injectate, when compared to blinded techniques, such as tail vein injections, and (3) reduced morbidity and mortality compared to surgical vascular access techniques (i.e., jugular vein cannulation). This technique may lead to more accurate determination of the success of the injection procedure for each mouse, thus improving the quality of acquired data in dependent mouse experiments.