Get Name: Rat Dissection External Anatomy 1. - Lisle 202

Rats are ordered from biological supply companies. They come stored in a preserving fluid, either in bags or in a bucket. Always use latex or nitrile gloves when handling your rat and safety goggles are required to protect your eye from chemical splattering or debris.

Laboratory rats or lab rats are strains of the subspecies Rattus norvegicus domestica which are bred and kept for scientific research.

There are three salivary glands - the sublingual (yellow pin), submaxillary (green pin), and parotid (red pin). The parotid is easiest to find, it lies just beneath the ear and extends to the neck. See if you can find the others also.

Dissection (from Latin dissecare "to cut to pieces"; also called anatomization) is the dismembering of the body of a deceased animal or plant to study its anatomical structure. Autopsy is used in pathology and forensic medicine to determine the cause of death in humans.

Mice and rats possess a generic rodent body structure: a long body that tapers toward the head, short legs with four front toes and five hind toes, and a long tail. Rodents do not pant and have no sweat glands; therefore, their ability to withstand high temperatures is limited.

Two muscular chambers, smaller in size and located in front of the ventricles. A large pulmonary artery lies between the two atria on the ventral side. The three systemic veins, two precavals and a postcaval open directly into the right atrium. The two pulmonary veins open in the left atrium through a common opening.

Check to see if your station has the equipment you will need to dissect the rat. This includes a dissecting pan, scalpel, scissors, probes, and pins. Rats are ordered from biological supply companies. They come stored in a preserving fluid, either in bags or in a bucket.