January 27th, 2014

Today, I observed perfusions for the first time. Although I have experience dissecting animals in previous classes, I have never been a part of the animal’s death. I was very interested in learning about the process in general. In regard to the perfusions, I struggled most with how I was supposed to respond to the process. On one hand, I was curious. On the other, it was an eery experience to watch the animal die in front of your eyes.

The process was easier for me to digest when I thought of the rat as a research specimen. Once I was able to compartmentalize my thoughts, I thought the entire procedure was fascinating. Particularly when Dr. Holstein injected the rat with formalin, it was very interesting to watch as the rat’s muscles seized. It was also interesting to watch as Dr. Holstein extracted the brain from the rat’s skull. It was a lot less gruesome than I imagined because the blood was essentially drained from the rat and replaced with saline and eventually formalin. 

I also helped Bekah clean out the machines and sweep/mop the floors of the testing room. Tomorrow, we plan to go over the results and discuss our presentation. 

January 26th

Today, I came in and gave two rats water for 15 minutes.

January 23rd, 2014

Today I began the day by setting up the computer. The first round of injections (D1- all receiving quinine) went smoothly for the aCSF. However, we needed to redo the left injection for the first CDP rat. After Bekah and I flipped the water for group C, we agitated the cannulae for the rats in A and B groups. Dr. Holstein was concerned that the cannulae could be clogged, which could be problematic when they inject the dye for the perfusions. The second round of injections also went well for D2 (all receiving quinine). Similar to the first set of injections, we needed to redo the left cannulae for the CDP rats. We also labeled the bottles for the brains. D3 also went smoothly. However, we had to redo the left cannula for the rat in box two and three.

January 22nd, 2014

Today, I started off the day with C1-receiving all quinine. The aCSF injections and the first CDP injection went smoothly. However, we had to redo the right injection for the second CDP rat. We noticed that the second and the third box had very low licks. The second round of injections (C2-all quinine) also went smoothly, especially after we let the CDP run and scraped the edges of the injector before inserting them into the cannulae. I also made up 4 liters of NaCl and made 17 syringes of ketamine.

January 21st, 2014

Today, I began the day by setting up the computers for the day. The first set of microinjections (D2-all quinine) went smoothly. We only had to redo one injection. More specifically, we had to redo the left cannula of the second CDP rat. After D2, we flipped the water for group C for an hour. In the second set of microinjections (D3-all quinine), the aCSF microinjections went off without a hitch. I noticed that these rats were very fidgety and we had a difficult time keeping them still. Both CDP injections had to be redone. It seems that there is a problem with the tubing! After the D3 microinjections, I made up a liter of NaCl for the afternoon and helped Bekah make up extra syringes of LiCl for the CTA testing.

January 20th, 2014

Today, I began the day by making up .03 NaCL solution. We got off to a slow start in the first round of microinjections on C2, where the rats received quinine. Although the aCSF microinjections went smoothly, the CDP injections proved to be more problematic. Afterward, Bekah and I agitated the cannulae and weighed the rats in A and B. The aCSF microinjections also went smoothly for the rats in C3. However, we had to redo the microinjections for the CDP rats. The rats in boxes 1-3 received quinine, whereas the rat in box 4 received NaCl. We also prepared the LiCl solutions for the CTA tests. Dr. Holstein also explained the perfusion process and what to expect. The microinjections for the C3 group, receiving quinine, were successful and we did not need do redo any of them!

January 18th, 2014

Today, I came in to give water to rats in C and D for an hour.