Lab Procedures

How many figure eights should you do when rocking blood tubes?

8 figure eights

True or false: An alternative method to 8 figure eights is to shake the blood tube 8 times back and forth

False. You should never shake blood tubes!

Which tube with what colour top is used to collect blood for peripheral blood smears?

EDTA, purple top

What range of angles should you hold your spreader slide when making a blood smear?

30–45°

What shape should a good blood smear be?

Fingerprint

Anatomical term for the rainbowish area in a smear?

Corona

Area in the smear where erythrocytes are close together but don't overlap

Monolayer

What are the five things that should be written on a slide when labelling?

1. Name (or ID) of patient

2. Last name of owner

3. Species of patient

4. Date smear was made

5. Initials of person who made the smear

When is the best time to stain a blood smear?

Immediately after it has dried

What stain used to stain blood smears involves dipping the slide in three solutions?

Diff–Quick Stain

What is the fixative solution used first in a Diff–Quick Stain?

Methanolic fixative

What does the second solution in a Diff–Quick Stain contain?

Xanthene dye

What does the third solution in a Diff–Quick Stain contain?

Thiazine dyes (methylene blue + Azure A)

Which of the Diff–Quick dyes is anionic?

Xanthene dye

Which of the Diff–Quick dyes is cationic?

Thiazine dyes

What type of reticulocyte is this?

Aggregate reticulocyte

What type of reticulocyte is this?

Punctate reticulocyte

What stain is used to count reticulocytes?

New Methylene Blue Stain

In which species do reticulocyte mature slowly, and punctate reticulocytes are common in healthy individuals?

Felines

When doing a reticulocyte cound in a cat, which type of reticulocyte do you count?

Only aggregate reticulocytes

When doing a reticulocyte cound in a species other than a cat, which type of reticulocyte do you count?

Both punctate and aggregate reticulocytes

When doing a reticulocyte count, how many red blood cells do you count?

1000 RBC's

You count 98 reticulocytes out of 1000 total RBC's, how do you calculate the percentage of reticulocytes?

9.8%

Your reticulocyte percent is 9.8%, how do you calculate the absolute value of reticulocytes?

98/cu mm of blood

At what objective do you complete a WBC estimate?

40x

At what objective do you complete a platelet estimate?

100X

You complete a WBC estimate. In ten fields you count a total of 7 WBC's. How do you calculate the WBC estimate?

You complete a platelet estimate. In ten fields you count a total of 75 platelets. How do you calculate the platelet estimate?

112,500ul

You complete a WBC differential. You count:

Neutrophils = 76

Lymphocytes = 9

Monocytes = 15

Eosinophils = 0

Basophils = 0

The absolute value of WBC's is 17.59 x10^9/L. How do you calculate WBC % and absolute values?