What Are Mice Used For In Animal Testing

When the June 2016 event of Nature reported the favorable results in vaccinating mice against ii strains of the Zika virus, information technology gave hope that a cure for humans would not be far behind. But why is this and so? When you retrieve about all the ways we are different from other animals, you might wonder why we should believe that what works on a mouse would also work on usa? As information technology turns out, humans and mice are more alike than you'd think!

Mice – They're Practically Human

According to The Jackson Laboratory, mice "share between 95 and 98 percent of our genomes and get well-nigh of the aforementioned diseases, for many of the same genetic reasons." They accept been instrumental in the discovery of penicillin and in developing treatments for diseases such as polio, xanthous fever, and HIV-AIDS.

Yet that modest percent difference between mouse and man is occasionally enough to yield results that don't work on u.s.a.. This has prompted further experimentation on mice to make them fifty-fifty more suitable. The Jackson Laboratory's Leonard Shultz, Ph.D., has altered the mouse's immune arrangement to accept human being cells and thus enhance the odds that successful results volition also apply to humans. They supply roughly xx,000 labs and 900 institutions in 56 countries with vii,500 strains of "genetically defined mice."

Medical Research

There are even mice that are already built-in with impaired immunity, the result of a condition known as SCID (severe combined immunodeficiency). According to the Foundation for Biomedical Inquiry, these mice tin can be used every bit perfect models for comparing normal and cancerous tissues in humans.

Then there are genetically modified "knockout mice," which have been available for over ii dozen years. These allow scientists to brand specific genes in the mouse inactive and then supercede them with artificially created ones that ameliorate suit the purposes of an experiment.

Tiny white mouse attempts to climb out of a green gloved hand

More Reasons Why Mice Are Platonic for Testing

The reasons why mice make proficient candidates for animal testing are both applied and scientific. They are economical to go along since their housing and husbandry needs are easily fulfilled. And their cursory lifespan means that they can procreate and offer several generations for observation in a very curt fourth dimension.

Multiple generations are especially important because it would be impractical – and unethical – to expect the years it would take to observe the results of a medicine on subsequent generations of humans. With mice, numerous generations tin be monitored for birth defects or mutations within a single year!

Plus, the National Human Genome Research Plant asserts that having them inbred in controlled environments has produced offspring with nigh identical genetics. This allows for more uniform testing and more accurate results.

Not to Be Confused with the Pest in Your Home

Now that you know of the potential benefits mice offer us in the fields of scientific discipline and medicine, don't let that change your impression of the average mice you lot find invading your home.

Unless you alive side by side door to a lab and happen to come across one of its escapees, the mouse you volition find is not tame, was non raised nether carefully guarded conditions and may even carry diseases that can do you damage. Visit the Victor® Mouse Control page for all your options on handling the critter in your home, and rest bodacious that you are non hindering scientific research by doing then.

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Source: https://www.victorpest.com/articles/why-are-mice-used-in-testing-for-human-diseases

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