K2 edta plus blood collection tubes

Guinea pigs were infected with 1 000×LD₅₀ of MARV/Ang-GA, or an equivalent dose of MARV/Ang. Four animals from each group were euthanized at 0, 3, 5 and 7 dpi for necropsy. Blood was sampled from anesthetized guinea pigs by cardiac puncture. Whole blood was collected in K2 EDTA plus blood collection tubes (BD Biosciences, Canada) for blood counts and stored in lysis buffer AVL (Qiagen, USA) for determination of viremia, and lithium heparin blood collection tubes (BD Biosciences, Canada) for blood biochemistry. Major organs including livers, spleen, kidneys and lungs were harvested from these animals at the same timepoints and stored in RNAlater for subsequent analysis.

Plasma levels of IL-10 were evaluated at 24 h following SCI and in SCI with HUCMC infusion. Blood samples were collected via cardiac puncture, prior to transcardial perfusion, into EDTA-coated Vacutainer tubes (K2 EDTA Plus Blood Collection Tubes, BD Biosciences, San Jose, CA). The samples were subsequently centrifuged at 3000 rpm (centrifuge 5810R, Eppendorf) for 10 min (4 °C), and the plasma was collected. The plasma samples were applied for the rat interleukin-10 (IL-10) enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit (AB100765, Abcam) per the manufacturer’s instructions, and the absorbance was read at 450 nm (Wallac 1420 VICTOR2; PerkinElmer, Waltham, MA).