Usually, medicines are tested on rodents (rats mostly) before they are permitted to be used by people. But why rodents in particular?Why are rodents used as test subjects for medicines?
Other rodents commonly used are guinea pigs, hamsters, and gerbils. Mice are the most commonly used vertebrate species because of their size, low cost, ease of handling, and fast reproduction rate. Mice are widely considered to be the best model of inherited human disease and share 99% of their genes with humans. With the advent of genetic engineering technology, genetically modified mice can be generated to order and can provide models for a range of human diseases.Rats are also widely used for physiology, toxicology and cancer research, but genetic manipulation is much harder in rats than in mice, which limits the use of these rodents in basic science.Why are rodents used as test subjects for medicines?
Rodents are cheaper than people, for one. Also, rodents have very similar physiology to humans.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment