Animal model
hideAn animal model is a non-human animal that has a disease or injury that is similar to a human condition. These test conditions are often termed as animal models of disease. The use of animal models allows researchers to investigate disease states in ways which would be inaccessible in a human patient, performing procedures on the non-human animal that imply a level of harm that would not be considered ethical to inflict on a human.
In order to serve as a useful model, a modeled disease must be similar in etiology (mechanism of cause) and function to the human equivalent. Animal models are used to learn more about a disease, its diagnosis and its treatment. For instance, behavioral analogues of anxiety or pain in laboratory animals can be used to screen and test new drugs for the treatment of these conditions in humans. A 2000 study found that animal models predicted human toxicity in 71% of cases, with 63% for nonrodents alone and 43% for rodents alone.
Animal models of disease can be spontaneous (naturally occurring in animals), or be induced by physical, chemical or biological means. For example,
The increase in knowledge of the genomes of non-human primates and other mammals that are genetically close to humans is allowing the production of genetically engineered animal tissues, organs and even animal species which express human diseases, providing a more robust model of human diseases in an animal model.
Animal models observed in the sciences of psychology and sociology are often termed animal models of behavior.
In quantitative genetics, the term animal model is used to refer to statistical models in which phenotypic variance is compartmentalised into environmental, genetic and sometimes maternal effects. Such animal models are also known as "mixed models".
For more information about Animal model, read the full article at
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This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
News tagged with animal model
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Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry
Oct 23, 2009 |
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More than half the people who take antidepressants for depression never get relief. Why? Because the cause of depression has been oversimplified and drugs designed to treat it aim at the wrong target, according to new research ...
New discovery could help feed millions (w/Video)
May 27, 2009 |
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When scientist Loretta Mayer set out to alleviate diseases associated with menopause, she didn't realize her work could lead to addressing world hunger and feeding hundreds of millions of people.
Computer-Guided Nanoparticle Therapy Destroys Tumors
Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine
Jun 29, 2009 |
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Gold nanoshells are among the most promising new nanoscale therapeutics being developed to kill tumors, acting as antennas that turn light energy into heat that cooks cancer to death. Now, a multi-institutional research team ...
Master regulator found for regenerating nerve fibers in live animals
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Oct 25, 2009 |
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Researchers at Children's Hospital Boston report that an enzyme known as Mst3b, previously identified in their lab, is essential for regenerating damaged axons (nerve fibers) in a live animal model, in both the peripheral ...
Study shows how carbon nanotubes can affect lining of the lungs
Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine
Oct 25, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Carbon nanotubes are being considered for use in everything from sports equipment to medical applications, but a great deal remains unknown about whether these materials cause respiratory ...
Green Tea May Delay Onset of Type 1 Diabetes
Oct 23, 2008 |
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A powerful antioxidant in green tea may prevent or delay the onset of type 1 diabetes, Medical College of Georgia researchers say. Researchers were testing EGCG, green tea's predominant antioxidant, in a laboratory ...
World first: Japanese scientists create transgenic monkeys
May 27, 2009 |
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In a controversial achievement, Japanese scientists announced on Wednesday they had created the world's first transgenic primates, breeding monkeys with a gene that made the animals' skin glow a fluorescent ...
Probiotics may be able to help you keep slim
May 05, 2009 |
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Researchers from LIFE - Faculty of Life Sciences at University of Copenhagen are working on a promising research project that seems to indicate that probiotics have a slimming effect.
Oxygen treatment hastens memory loss in Alzheimer's mice
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Aug 11, 2009 |
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A 65-year-old women goes into the hospital for routine hip surgery. Six months later, she develops memory loss and is later diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease. Just a coincidence? Researchers at the University of South ...
Hydrogen peroxide marshals immune system (w/Video)
Jun 03, 2009 |
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When you were a kid your mom poured it on your scraped finger to stave off infection. When you got older you might have even used it to bleach your hair. Now there's another possible function for this over-the-counter colorless ...
Safety Can be Learned - and Helps Combat Depression
Dec 15, 2008 |
4.5 / 5 (4) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Learning a feeling of safety activates cellular and molecular processes that act against depression. This has been analysed using a new animal model that helps examine and explain the relevant ...
Easing the stress of trauma
Dec 01, 2008 |
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Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) affects as many as one in five of all Americans who survive a harrowing experience like rape, assault, war or terrorism. It has emotionally paralyzed survivors of 9/11 and broken up survivors' ...
Pesticide exposure found to increase risk of Parkinson's disease
Apr 21, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- The fertile soil of California's Central Valley has long made it famous as one of the nation's prime crop-growing regions. But it's not just the soil that allows for such productivity. Crops ...
Hormones found to affect gene activity
Aug 19, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Intermittent signaling by steroid hormones can affect the way genes are expressed in rodents, according to research by scientists at the University of Bristol and the National Cancer Institute ...
Scientists identify gene that predicts post-surgical survival from brain metastasis of breast cancer patients
Sep 01, 2009 |
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Researchers at the National Cancer Institute have identified a gene that may play a role in breast cancer metastasis to the brain, according to a report in Molecular Cancer Research, a journal of the Americ ...
