The rat blood samples (approximately 0.2 mL) were collected in heparinized 1.5 mL polythene tubes at 0.03, 0.08, 0.17, 0.25, 0.33, 0.5, 0.75, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 8 h from their fossa orbitalis after intravenous administration.
Bartonella DNA was detected in 135 (67.5%) of 200 rat blood samples.
We applied statistical analyses to examine the difference in gene expression between the control and arthritic rat blood samples.
The level of TNF-α, IL-1β, VEGF-α, and IL-17 in the rat blood samples were measured as previously described by Cai et al. [ 11].
In addition, Bushel et al. [ 13] demonstrated that gene expression profiles from rat blood samples could accurately predict exposure levels of acetaminophen to the rat liver better than traditional clinical panels.
For the determination of the adenine serum concentration, in one rat, blood samples were drawn from a carotis canula at different time intervals (5, 15, 25, 40, 55 and 70 min after the bolus adenine injection).
To evaluate the extracted sample storage stability, six sets of quality control (QC) rat blood samples, each with four replicates, were prepared at 0.025 μM (low QC), 0.1 μM (medium QC), and 0.5 μM (high QC) and were processed as described above.
To confirm similar long-term expression in Wistar rats, a lentiviral vector with a constitutive CMV promoter driving expression of Epo was injected into the hind leg of Wistar rats and blood samples were collected every two weeks.
"Shenyang" prescription was administered to subgroups of these rats, and blood samples were taken before and after treatment.
At the end of the study, sternotomy was performed under anesthesia to all rats and blood samples were taken from the right atrium.
