Spark Holland and DiLab to collaborate on single-mouse pharmacokinetics
Dutch company Spark Holland and DiLab of Sweden have signed a development partnership in which DiLab's AccuSampler Micro instrument for automated blood sampling (ABS) will be adapted to accommodate Spark Holland's recently developed blood collection cartridges for direct processing in its Symbiosis system for online solid phase extraction (SPE). The result will be a highly automated workflow for pharmacokinetic studies with small laboratory animals, says the company.
Dutch company Spark Holland and DiLab of Sweden have signed a development partnership in which DiLab's AccuSampler Micro instrument for automated blood sampling (ABS) will be adapted to accommodate Spark Holland's recently developed blood collection cartridges for direct processing in its Symbiosis system for online solid phase extraction (SPE). The result will be a highly automated workflow for pharmacokinetic studies with small laboratory animals, says the company.
The AccuSampler Micro permits automated serial withdrawal of blood samples from 5-50µl from animals such as mice for pharmacokinetic studies. Adaptation of the AccuSampler will enable users to place Symbiosis trays with blood collection cartridges in the device. These trays can then be placed directly in the Symbiosis system for online SPE-LC-MS analysis, without any further manual sample work-up. The combination of collecting accurately measured small blood volumes and direct processing for online SPE-LC-MS allows serial blood sampling from animals such as rats and mice, for an entire pharmacokinetic study with a single animal. The company says this will significantly reduce the number of lab animals tested and result in better pharmacokinetic data.
The DiLab ABS AccuSampler Micro is compliant with the 3R. guidelines for animal welfare as issued by the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs) in London.