Laboratory animals

1. Commonly used Laboratory animals
S. Parasuraman M.Pharm., Ph.D.,
Faculty of Pharmacy, AIMST University.

2. Laboratory animals
• laboratory animals (also referred to as animals) are
generally defined as any vertebrate animal (i.e.,
traditional laboratory animals, agricultural animals,
wildlife, and aquatic species) produced for or used in
research, testing, or teaching.
• Animal use is defined as the proper care, use, and
humane treatment of laboratory animals produced
for or used in research, testing, or teaching.
Ref: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK54054/

3. Areas of animal use
Lab animals are used in different areas,
including:
• Developing and testing medicines and vaccines for
humans or animals
• Research how animal and human bodies function
• Safety testing chemicals.
• Testing the chemicals for their possible effects on
human health or the environment
Ref: https://www.rspca.org.uk/adviceandwelfare/laboratory

4. Justification for the animal uses in research
• Animal experiments are one of the traditional
approaches to studying how human and animal bodies
work (in health and illness) and for testing medicines
and chemicals.
• Animals are biologically very similar to humans (Mice
share more than 98% DNA with us).
• Animals are susceptible to many of the same health
problems as humans – cancer, diabetes, heart disease,
etc.
• With a shorter life cycle than humans, animal models
can be studied throughout their whole life span and
across several generations, a critical element in
understanding how a disease processes and how it
interacts with a whole, living biological system.
Ref: https://www.rspca.org.uk/adviceandwelfare/laboratory/areanimalexperimentsnecessary
https://med.stanford.edu/animalresearch/why-animal-research.html

5. Classification of Laboratory animals
• Conventional animals: Animals derived and grown in
general environment but free from diseases
communicable to human.
• Gnotobiotic animals: The gnotobiotic laboratory animal
is potentially a very valuable tool for investigating any
suspected interaction between the host and its
associated microflora or between different components
of that flora.
• Specific Pathogen Free (SPF) animals: The animals are
that are demonstrated to be free of a specific list of
pathogens by routine testing.
• Germ Free (GF) animals: Germ-free animals grown under
sterile environment are characterized by absence of gut
microbes.
Ref: Balwan WK, Saba N. Gnotobiotic Animals in Life Science Research. Elementary Education Online. 2021 Mar 4;20(1):1944-6.
Das D, Biswas N, Mandal L. Influence of diet on gastrointestinal immunology. InNutrition and Functional Foods in Boosting Digestion, Metabolism and Immune Health 2022(pp.
89-98). Academic Press.

6. Types of Laboratory animals
Mice, Rats, Hamster, Guinea Pigs, Rabbits, Monkeys
and Transgenic Fly are commonly used laboratory
animals.
Ref:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjcqp3H3Pr7AhWF0nMBHdogD5kQFnoECBUQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2F
www.basu.org.in%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F03%2FLaboratory_animals_Production.pptx&usg=AOvVaw0fX_P9QPUEqSmoPDG4rp-o

7. Rodent: Mice
• Mice and rats have long served as the preferred
species for biomedical research animal models due
to their anatomical, physiological, and genetic
similarity to humans.
• They are smaller in size, early puberty, high fecundity,
short gestation, high position in evolutionary scale.
Due to these specialties about 60-70% laboratory
animals are used as mice.
• Strain:
Ref: PMID: 23829104
C57BL/6
BALB/C
CD-1
SCID
A/J

8. Rodent: Rats
• It is the second most cited animal model used in
biomedical research. Sprague-Dawley and Wistar are
the two most frequently used rat models.
• Nearly 2-3 times bigger in size than mice, short
gestation, prolific breeder, early puberty and high
fecundity.
Ref:

9. Rats Vs Mice
Ref: https://www.rentokil.co.uk/blog/brown-rat-house-mouse-just-see/

10. Hamster
• Syrian and Chinese are two popular varieties of
hamster used in various research
• Chinese hamster are commonly used in research on
diabetes due to high incidence of diabetes mellitus
• Syrian hamsters are used to model human medical
conditions including various cancers, metabolic
diseases, non-cancer respiratory diseases,
cardiovascular diseases, infectious diseases, and
general health concerns.

11. Guinea Pigs
• Guinea pigs are highly social animals.
• The shorthair albino English or Hartley guinea pig is
used commonly in biomedical research.
• Guinea pigs are still commonly used in studies of the
respiratory and hearing systems.
• It needs supplementation of Vit. C in the diet and
More susceptible to T.B. & Anaphylactic shock.

12. Rabbits
• Common laboratory rabbit strains are derived from the
European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus), among which the
most vital ones for research are the New Zealand White
(albino), New Zealand Red, Dutch-belted, Californian White,
and Polish.
• Rabbits are commonly used for toxicity and safety testing of
substances such as drugs, chemicals and medical devices.
They are used in skin and eye irritation studies, such as the
archaic and painful Draize tests for cosmetics, personal care,
household products and other chemicals.
• Rabbits are also used in Pharmacokinetic studies.
Ref: PMID: 33815718

13. Monkeys
• The most-often used monkeys in medical research
are: Rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta),
Cynomolgus macaques (Macaca fascicularis) and
Marmosets (Callithrix jacchus).
• Testing on non-human primates is permitted for
basic and applied research, quality and safety testing
of drugs, food and other products and research
aimed on the preservation of the species.

14. Dogs
• Dogs are used in biomedical research because they have
certain similarities with humans which are not present in
other animals. Due to these similarities dogs are only
used when other animal models will not achieve
meaningful results, and this means they are used in a
very small percentage of procedures.
• Dogs are especially suitable for cardiovascular studies
due to the resemblance in heart connectivity and size
to the human heart.
Ref: https://www.eara.eu/why-dogs-are-used-in-research

15. Zebrafish
Zebrafish have all the main organs involved in the
process of metabolism and can be used to study
several human metabolic disorders such as
nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, type 2 diabetes
mellitus, dyslipidemia, and other hepatic diseases.
Ref: PMID: 32002264

16. Transgenic Fly
• These flies bred quickly and have short lifetime of
about 15 days. To carry out biological assay in fly is
much cheaper as compared to other laboratory
animals.
• Transgenic Drosophila melanogaster have been used
to model both the physiological and pathological
behavior of serpins.
Ref: PMID: 21683257

17. Biological data on common lab. animals
Ref: MN Ghosh, Fundamentals of experimental pharmacology, 4th ed. Elton & Company

18. Some Physiological data of lab. animals
Ref: MN Ghosh, Fundamentals of experimental pharmacology, 4th ed. Elton & Company

19. Thank you