Science!

[beige_alert]

Featured substance in today’s episode of Noxious Substances Under Scientific Investigation: Mouse urine. How does one get mouse urine? It comes to me in little plastic tubes. How they get the urine out of the mouse and into the little plastic tubes I do not know. I assume you can’t just hand them the little tube and give them some privacy.

(We’re doing 2-D gel electrophoresis to separate the proteins in the urine. Assuming the salt concentration is low enough for it to work.)

Comments

[aryana-filker.livejournal.com]

Uh...urgh!
Poor you.
I have the bad feeling that they force the mice to urinate....

[tigertoy.livejournal.com]

As far as I know, mouse urine is collected by placing a funnel underneath the mouse cage. How one avoids fecal matter mixing with the urine (if this is required) I don't know, since in my experience mice just let go with either #1 or #2 when and wherever the urge strikes them.

I suddenly find myself trying to compose an instafilk on the topic (and around the phrase) murine urine. I obviously need some sort of help.

[beige-alert.livejournal.com]

I actually think there are special cages with filters and hydrophobic or hydrophilic or whatever membranes, and such. Anyway, that's more like biology, and I'm more like a chemist. I don't have to worry about it. Just as I don't have to worry about how exactly one does a heart transplant on a mouse. I just get protein samples from them. Anyway, just getting the smelly stuff in tubes is way too biological for me. I'm more used to purified proteins in polyacrylamide gels, stained with dye or silver to make it visible. Nice and neat.

On the one hand, an instafilk around murine urine would be really...unique. On the other, that would mean you need some sort of help.