Harvesting an Inguinal Draining Lymph Node from a Murine Model

For inguinal draining lymph node harvest, apply mineral oil to the abdominal skin. Use standard microsurgery scissors and microsurgery curved forceps to make a midline skin incision in the abdomen from the pubis to the xiphoid process, and dissociate the abdominal musculature from the skin.

Make horizontal skin incisions at the top and bottom of the vertical incision line to create skin flaps on the side of injection, and retract the skin to visualize the lymph node. Secure the skin flap to the acrylic plate, and use the forceps to remove the translucid, usually bilobular, spherical inguinal draining lymph node.