black mouse spleens? - (May/04/2009 )

sometimes when i remove spleens from my c57bl6 mice, i'll notice large black spots in their spleen...when i mashed one up today, i noticed the liquid produced was almost black, not red as usual spleens seem to be. As far as i can remember, these black spleens have been low in cell counts and I'm wondering if it somehow affects the viability of the cells.

Has anyone seen anything similar? and could it really be harmful to other cells?

sevenkit on May 5 2009, 12:38 PM said:

I have never noticed such till now with B6 mice. Are these healthy mice or were there any interventions done on the mice? Sounds like contusion/necrosis for some reason.

sevenkit on May 5 2009, 04:38 AM said:

That's a bit of dead spleen. Just cut up the red stuff for your analysis leaving the black behind
C

sevenkit on May 5 2009, 04:38 AM said:

Is that the spleen of a naive mouse? I'll say your mouse has some infection as a "black spleen" is a sign of a not very helthy one, I've seen that in the past with bacterial infection due to sepsis. Did the slpeen look normal otherwise, or smaller and darker than usual?

I wouldn't use it.
If is a control (naive) in an experiment dont include it as it's clearly not naive anymore.
If is actually an experimental mouse (ie treated/infected) then note down the effect seen on the spleen and proceed with the analysis you are doing, the blackness might be a result.
If you just want splenocytes, get a new mouse with a healthy spleen. I dont agree with Clare, just "leaving the black behind" is not good enough, as you dont know whether the cells you'll be using might have been black in a few days, so it can totally skew your results.

Hope this helps.

I dont agree with Clare, just "leaving the black behind" is not good enough, as you dont know whether the cells you'll be using might have been black in a few days, so it can totally skew your results.

Hope this helps.