Rat Vascular Access Port Is Being Used “Off-Label” with Other Species

Including Ferrets, Hamsters, Rabbits and Minipigs

Our team has developed the Vascular Access Button™ (VAB™) over the past ten years, working closely with our customers in pharmaceutical research laboratories, to improve blood sampling and IV dosing in rats and mice. We did not expect the VAB™ to be useful in other species, and so we have been surprised at our customers’ creativity and perseverance:

• The US Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center used the rat VAB™ for repeated, low-stress blood sampling from ferrets. 14 of 16 jugular vein catheters remained patent for 21 days, and the animals were able to be group housed thanks to the protective metal cap.
• Our customers have successfully used the mouse VAB™ in hamsters, often useful in infection disease research, though we are not aware of any posters or presentations.
• Bristol Myers Squibb presented at the 2019 Academy of Surgical Research meeting and the 2020 University of Pennsylvania Laboratory Animal Research Symposium on the surgical technique and results of using the rat VAB™ for serial blood sampling from rabbits, and noted that the technique was less stressful on the animals and the technicians compared to the standard method of sampling from the ear. Jon Ehrmann et al. of BMS published on the "Implantation of a Vascular Access Button for Chronic Blood Sampling and Drug Administration in the Rabbit" in the Fall of 2023.
• Ellegaard Gottigen Minipigs in Denmark,  Frontage Laboratories in Ohio and Charles River in the Netherlands have presented on use of the rat VAB™ for dosing and sampling in minipigs. Instech and Ellegaard developed a special long-necked version of the VAB™ for this application.

Some VAB™ features do not carry over to these other species - for example, a rat tether for continuous infusion will not work on a larger animal, and minipigs make short work of the standard protective cap for group housing - but the ability to take low-stress repeated blood samples from an implanted catheter with extended patency has pushed our customers to become creative. If you have used the VAB™ on species not mentioned here, please let us know.

Learn more about the Vascular Access Button™