ROUTINE LABORATORY ANALYSIS FOR PRECLINICAL RESEARCH IN THE PHARMACEUTICAL-INDUSTRY IN ITALY - AN OVERVIEW

Last year, the GEET (Italian Association for Haematology and Haematoch emistry in Toxicology), which covers most pharmaceutical companies and contract laboratories in Italy, carried out an explorative survey on the analytical procedures commonly used for measuring haematological a nd clinicochemical parameters in laboratory animals. The aim of this s urvey was to check the differences between methods and procedures in o rder to evaluate a potential standardisation among laboratories. The G EET members provided information on the experimental procedures employ ed and parameters evaluated in their Research Laboratories for dog and rat samples. The variables considered in this paper are blood collect ion (fasting, anaesthesia, site of withdrawal, anticoagulants), urine collection (water load, preservatives), nature of sample, sample stora ge, analytical methods and equipment.