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Hello,
My name is Jeremy Shaba and I am a veterinary student at the Ontario Veterinary College.
I work in an equine respiratory lab where we analyze Bronchoalveolar Lavage (or BAL)
samples sent in from local practitioners. Often times the slides sent in were not prepared
correctly so the goal of this video is to demonstrate the way in which we prefer to
prepare a direct smear from BAL fluid.
Once you have collected your fluid, you will need to centrifuge 10-50ml of whole fluid
for 10 minutes at 3,000 rpm.
Remove your tube from the centrifuge and you should see a cell pellet similar to this one
at the bottom of the tube. Pellets range in size depending on how cellular your sample
is.
Gently pour off the supernatant and then re-suspend the cell pellet at the base of the tube by
gently tapping on the tube.
Place a small drop of this concentrated cell sample onto a clean glass slide. Spread the
sample around by tipping it in several directions.
Smears that are too thin will yield insufficient cells for identification, whereas thick smears
with excessive mucus will make cell differentiation very difficult or impossible to perform.
Rapid Air-drying of the slides is essential to preserve cell morphology. A small desk-top
fan is invaluable in the preparation of excellent quality smears.
Thank you for watching this video and please let me know if you have any questions.