Perhaps I should be more specific as to what it is that I am looking for. I
appreciate the responses that I recieved to my first inquiry, but I don't
think I quite got my point across. The process of anesthetizing and
exsanguinating lab animals before a necropsy is a procedure that we have
been doing, at the very least, ever since I started working in this field.
It was already a standard procedure then, and it continues to be today. The
reasons behind exsanguination are clear enough, also. The tissues fix more
thoroughly and we get better sections from tissues such as spleen that are
active hematopoietic tissues and as such have a rich blood supply. What I am
looking for is documentation, in histo texts, etc. that spell out the
effects of bleeding out on specimen quality and explain this process so that
I can site these sources in support of a discussion on the necessity of the
process (can anyone say run-on sentence?). I recieved a copy (thank you,
Barb Munch) of the 1993 Report of the AVMA Panel on Euthanasia which clearly
states that, combined with anesthesia, exsanguination is an acceptable
method of euthanasia. Nothing that I have been able to find so far has been
able to explain the benefit of exsanguination on specimen quality. If anyone
out there in Histoland knows where such a reference can be found, I can be
reached at 'mwillia7@prius.jnj.com'.

Thank You.

Matthew J Williams
Research Assistant
Morphologic Pathology
RW Johnson PRI