Why Most Medical Experiments Using Rat?

Rat, this little animal have some advantagae in the lab. Do you know why the rat is often used in medical experiments? 

It turned out that mice have a significant role in medical experiments. Starting from the formulation of new cancer drugs to test dietary supplements, the mice play an important role in the new medical miracle.

In fact, according to the Foundation for Biomedical Research (FBR), 95% of lab animals are mice. Scientists and researchers rely on mice for several reasons. One of these, rodents are small, easily stored and maintained and can adapt well to new environments.

These animals breed rapidly and short-lived (2-3 years) so that several generations of mice can be observed in a short time.

In addition, mice are relatively inexpensive and can be purchased in bulk from commercial manufacturers breeding of rodents for research. Generally, mice are obedient and easy to handle animal researchers, although there is some kind of difficult to handle.

Most medical laboratory mice are genetically almost identical, except for gender. According to the National Human Genome Research Institute, it helps a uniform result of medical experiments. As a minimum, the mice had the same race.

Another reason rats were used as a model of medical tests is their genetic, biological and behavioral characteristics very similar to humans, and many symptoms of the human condition can be replicated in rats.

"Rats are mammals that have a lot of processes such as humans and can be used to answer the question a lot of research," said representatives of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Laboratory Welfare Jenny Haliski.

Over the last two decades, the similarity is even stronger. Now, scientists can develop a 'transgenic mice' who carry similar genes cause human diseases. Rats also make research efficient because of anatomy, physiology and genes are well understood by researchers.

Some mice SCID (severe combined immune deficiency) are naturally born without immune systems and can become a model study of normal and malignant human tissues. Here are examples of human disorders in which rats were used as a model.

Hypertension, diabetes, cataracts, obesity, seizures, respiratory problems, deafness, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, cancer, cystic fibrosis, HIV and AIDS, heart disease, muscular dystrophy, spinal cord injury.

Rats are also used for anti-addiction drug testing of potentially ending drug addiction.

"Using animals is important for scientific understanding of biomedical systems that lead to medication, therapy and healing is useful," said Haliski.