AHL LabNote 40-How to pool samples for submission to the Animal Health Lab

The Animal Health Lab recommends the following steps as a guideline to submitting pooled samples for testing:

Blood or serum/Swabs:                                               

1. Process specimens as soon as possible.
2. Wear gloves. Change gloves between submissions.
3. If specimen is a swab, vortex before proceeding to the next step.
4. Centrifuge clotted blood samples and swabs in a hermetically sealed centrifuge cup (with centrifuge caps applied) at 1,500-2,000 x g for 10±1 min (Figure A).
5. Working in a biological safety cabinet, arrange spun samples in a rack (Figure B).
6. Clearly label the required number of 2.0 mL vials needed,

(e.g., 20 blood samples pooled by 5 = 4 vials).

7. Using a new transfer pipette for each sample, pool equal amounts of sera/fluid from each sample to make a minimum of 1.5 mL of supernatant in a 2.0 mL vial.
8. Submit to the laboratory as soon as possible.

Note: We do not recommend pooling oral fluids and environmental fluid samples; for best results it is recommended to pool by maximum of 5.

Figure A: Sample centrifugation, before attaching centrifuge caps

Figure B: Sample arrangement, transferring samples to micro tubes

Item 1: