Blood extraction method by endocranial venous sinuses puncture in hunted wild ruminants

A comparative study was carried out to assess the usefulness of the blood extraction method by endocranial venous sinuses (EVS) puncture in hunted wild ruminants. Blood samples from 245 ruminants, including 76 red deer, 89 fallow deer, and 59 European mouflon, were taken from thoracic cavity (TC), and from 21 Pyrenean chamois by intracardiac (IC) puncture. All animals were also sampled in parallel using the EVS method. Anatomical studies revealed that the needle tip reached sinus cavernosus in red deer, vena emissaria foraminis orbitorotundi in fallow deer and sinus intercavernosus caudalis in Pyrenean chamois, all of them useful for bleeding. Significant higher serum volume, serum/blood ratio, and lower degree of hemolysis were found using the EVS as compared to the traditional methods (TC and IC methods). Additionally, 105 and 139 ruminants sampled by both the EVS and traditional methods were tested for the detection of antibodies against Brucella spp. (using Rose Bengal test (RBT) and complement fixation test (CFT)) and bluetongue virus (BTV) (using bELISA and serum neutralization test), respectively. A higher number of sera extracted by the EVS compared to the TC method could be analyzed for both diseases. The seropositivity detected from sera collected by EVS puncture and the TC method were 0.0 % (0/96) and 3.8 % (2/52) using RBT, respectively. None of the sera was positive to Brucella spp. using CFT. The seroprevalences against BTV by bELISA were 28.3 % (39/138) and 34.1 % (46/135) in sera collected by the EVS and conventional methods, respectively. Blood extraction from the EVS can be considered a useful alternative to the conventional sampling methods in wild ruminants.