Clin Lab IV: Cytology Review

**What is the primary purpose of cytology?

To differentiate inflammation and neoplasia.

**When obtaining a swab, what liquid should you use to moisten the swab?

0.9% Saline (NaCl).

**Describe how your sample is transferred on to the slide:

Gently rolled along the flat surface of the microscope slide.

When obtaining an ear cytology, you want to get the sample prior to putting what into the ears?

Cleaning agents or medications.

**Are ear mite slides stained? What do you add to the slide to increase mite mobility?

• No.

• Mineral oil

Should ear cytologies be thin or thick smears?

Thin.

**Why would you “heat-fix” your slide?

To dissolve the wax.

**What are the 2 shapes of bacteria you might see on an ear cytology?

Cocci (round), and bacilli (rod-shaped).

**Describe what yeast may look and smell like:

• Footprint, snowman, peanut-shaped.

• Can have a sweet smell to it.

**Scrapings should only contain ______________ samples and can be more difficult to collect.

Superficial samples.

When obtaining a skin scraping, you will pull the scalpel blade towards you, until what is observed?

Blood or capillary action.

**When obtaining an imprint from a cleaned lesion, it is important to make sure that what is removed from the surface? How?

• Blood and tissue fluid.

• Blotting with clean absorbent material.

Excessive fluid on imprints can inhibit what?

• Tissue cells from adhering to the glass slide, producing a poorly cellular prep.

• Inhibit cells from spreading.

• Assuming the size + shape they would usually have.

**Fine needle aspirates can be collected with what size needles and what size syringes?

• 20ga. - 25ga. needles

• 3ml or 20ml syringes

**Would softer masses that are being aspirated use a larger or smaller needle?

Smaller.

When using larger needles, what tends to be aspirated?

Tissue cores.

**When aspirating a small mass, what should you do when redirecting the needle to avoid aspiration of cells from the surrounding tissue?

Relieve the negative pressure on the syringe.

**Are good aspirate samples always visible in the hub of the needle?

No.

When obtaining a sample via the non-aspirate technique, describe how the needle is used to obtain the sample

A 22ga. needle is moved rapidly back and forth through the mass 5-6 times along the same tract + cells are collected by shearing + capillary action.

**What are the three techniques used to prepare smears from aspirates of solid masses?

• Combination technique

• Squash/compression technique

• Starfish smear

When clipping fur for a tissue biopsy, it is important to avoid causing what?

Skin irritation and inflammation (clipper burn).

**For skin biopsies. do you surgically prep the site?

No.

**Which biopsy technique can be used to remove single lesions or an entire lesion?

Wedge biopsy.

**What areas of tissue do you remove when obtaining a wedge biopsy?

• Lesion (abnormal tissue)

• Transition zone

• Normal tissue.

What size of biopsy punches are commonly used?

• 4mm

• 6mm

• 8mm

**What direction is the punch rotated in to obtain the sample?

One direction.

Punch biopsy samples are preserved in what?

Formalin jars.

**Collection of fluid from the peritoneal cavity is termed:

Abdominocentesis/ Paracentesis.

**Collection of fluid from the thoracic cavity is termed:

Thoracocentesis.

**When performing a centesis, what 2 blood tubes would you use to collect some of the fluid in?

LTT and RTT.

What size needle and syringe is typically used for a centesis?

20ga. needle and 60ml syringe.

Describe where you would insert the needle for a abdominocentesis:

In the ventral abdomen to the right of the midline, approximately 1-2cm caudal to the umbilicus.

Describe where you would insert you needle for a thoracocentesis:

In the 7th or 8th intercostal space along the cranial aspect of the rib.

**What are some of the gross characteristics you would record about the fluid collected?

• Sample color

• Turbidity

• Odor

**Transtracheal washes are used to help diagnose what type of disease in animals?

Pulmonary.

**Which transtracheal wash technique involves the insertion of a through the needle jugular catheter through the cricothyroid membrane?

Percutaneous technique.

**When injecting the saline into the trachea, you will elicit what?

Couching.

**What does BAL stand for and it is used to collect samples for where?

• Bronchoalveolar lavage.

• Lower respiratory tract

When performing a transtracheal via the orotracheal technique, if the animal is anesthitized and after the administration of saline does not cough, what should you do?

Withdraw the saline within a few seconds and evaluate it.

Smears from the sediment of a centrifuged fluid sample can be prepared what three ways?

• Wedge (blood) smear

• Line smear

• Squash/compression technique

Which technique spreads viscous samples and samples with particulate matter well?

Squash/compression technique

**Which technique is used to concentrate fluids of low cellularity?

Line smear.

**Translucent fluids have ______________ cellularity.

Low to moderate.

**Opaque fluids have ____________ cellularity.

High.

**How long and at what speed do you centrifuge fluids for?

5 minutes at 1,000-1,500 rpm.

Name the 2 types of stains commonly used for cytology samples.

Romanowsky and Papanicolaou.

**Which of the stains require the sample to be “wet-fixed”?

Papanicolaou.

**What is the preferred fixative for cytology specimens?

95% Methanol.

Describe how you would wet-fix your sample:

• Spraying the smear with a cytologic fixative.

• Placing it in ethanol immediately after.

**Exfoliative cytology is:

The study of cells shed from body surfaces.

**How many samples do you stain for cytologies?

One.

What is biomedical research?

The search for ways to heal living organisms such as humans and other animals.

Through biomedical research, scientists strive to do what?

To better understand the causes of diseases, to develop new drugs, vaccines, preventions, treat disease, and to test safety of products/

How many animals are used each year in biomedical research projects?

More than 20 million per year.

What percentage of those animals are rodents?

90%.

How many dogs, cats, and primates were used for research purposes in the US between October 1, 2003 and September 30, 2004?

Dogs= 65,000

Cats= 23,000

Primates= 55,000

What similarities do research animals and humans have?

The have similar body organs and systems to humans and other animals.

The short lifespan of lab animals allow the scientists to do what?

To study them throughout their entire lives and even through generations.

In the late 1940a, how many people around the world every year were crippled or killed because of polio and in the US in 1952, how many paralytic cases were there?

• Crippled/killed: thousands of people

• Paralyzed cases: over 21,000

When was the polio vaccine created?

Late 1950s— early 1960s.

What other vaccines/ immunizations for children were made possible through animal research?

• Typhus

• Diphtheria

• Whooping cough

• Smallpox

• Tetanus

What animal was crucial to the research that determined the cause of diabetes?

Dogs.

The previous question led to the medication for diabetes:

Insulin pumps to replace injections.

In regards to the heart and circulatory diseases, dogs have been important research animals in developing what?

• Open-heart surgery

• Pacemakers

• Heart-transplants

What animal diseases have benefited from animal research?

FIV, FeLV, parvovirus.

Is pain inflicted on all animals used in animal reserach?

No.

According to the humane society of the US, how many dogs and cats are killed each year because they are abandoned by their owners?

3-4 million.

What did the Federal Gov put in place in 1966 to supervise or control animal researchers?

Stringent controls.

What does AAALAC stand for?

Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care International.

What type of modern technology are researchers using now?

Computer models and tissue cultures.

What does AALAS stand for?

American Association for Laboratory Animal Science.