The scientific world continues to contribute to humanity with numerous studies carried out in different fields. We see that these studies, which affect our daily lives positively and deeply, are mostly carried out on mice. There are different reasons behind this, some big and some small.
These reasons are based on their resemblance to humans rather than because mice are small creatures. Without further ado, let’s take a look at why these animals are so popular, using Elizabeth Bryda’s academic article.
Let’s start with the ease they offer in the laboratory:
Since mice are small animals, keeping them in the laboratory is quite easy. In addition, their rapid adaptation to the environment prevents the stress factor to a large extent. When they are to be purchased, researchers are not in a difficult situation as they are sold cheaply.
But even though they have a 2-3 year lifespan, they don’t always have to be purchased. Because they are fast-breeding animals. In fact, mice have a gestation period of 19 to 21 days. Puppies born after this period are able to reproduce within 5 or 6 weeks.
When they give birth, 5 to 13 cubs are born:
The fact that mouse care is not too troublesome is an advantage for both the mice and the offspring.
These mice, which were specially produced for the laboratory, have much more important characteristics than we have listed:
We humans and mice have very similar genes. For this reason, mice are highly preferred for experiments for human ailments. They play a critical role, especially in finding solutions to more complex ailments than normal. Let’s take an example to make this clearer.
According to Bryda’s article, more than 100 genes are involved in the condition of hearing loss. But figuring out whether this is due to an inherited gene or an environmental cause such as loud noise becomes very troublesome when experimenting with humans. Because for such an experiment, it will be necessary to examine other people with hearing loss in the family tree. At this point, mice come into play:
Mice played a major role in the study of these genes:
In these experiments, in which the combination of different genes can be examined by mating different mice, both The effect of the gene on the situation as well as its effect on different stages of life (youth, old age, etc.) can be examined. Since the environment can be controlled in the laboratory environment, it is highly certain that the result will be related to the genes. In addition, it is seen that which gene plays a role in which disorder.
It is an undeniable fact that rats play a major role in major diseases that have a cure today.
Why do we see white rats the most?
Researchers do not select mice by color. More characteristics are in the foreground. The white-colored and red-eyed mice that we are familiar with seeing on television are albinos. For this reason, their unique genetic characteristics are followed in such mice. Of course, there is no rule that a white mouse is always albino.
Hamsters and guinea pigs, which are quite similar to and sometimes confused with mice, are also used in the experiments:
These animals, known as guinea pigs, are also similar to us humans, just as they do with mice. The solutions we have found to many general health problems, from cancer to metabolic diseases, from infectious diseases to many general health problems that we are used to seeing around, exist today, largely thanks to these animals.
So mice are very rich in genetic diversity, it is very easy to manage their genes according to needs, they are quite similar to humans in terms of body functions and they are not difficult to care for:
Yes, in short We can summarize it this way. It is unknown when mice will be deemed unnecessary for these experiments, but for now, it is clear that they play a critical role in human ailments.
Mouse monument in Akademgorodok, Russia, built for rodents that unfortunately did not survive during the experiments: They helped save millions of human lives
While presenting this content, the animals were tested in experiments. It should be noted that we exclude ethical discussions about its use. What we’re talking about here are just the reasons why the scientific world loves rats so much.
Sources: Live Science, Your Genome, Canadian Blood Services, Science Elephant, NCBI
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