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Table 2 Biomedical significances and limitations of small animal models

From: Role of animal models in biomedical research: a review

Small animal models

Significances and limitations

References

Rats (Rattus norvegicus domestica) and Mice (Mus musculus) model

Easy breeding, handling, less rearing care, easily interchangeable between rats and mice. They are mostly inbred, so do not have genetic variations like a human, not a suitable model for inflammation study

[37,38,39,40,41,42]

Guinea pig (Cavia porcellus)

Mostly outbred, suitable for cholesterol metabolism, asthma model, feto-placental development and parturition, Alzheimer’s disease study, tuberculosis research, vaccine study. High phenotypic variations, Ebola research in guinea pig is limited due to the poor infectious potential of the virus

[43,44,45,46,47,48,49,50,51,52,53,54,55,56,57,58,59,60,61,62,63]

Hamster, especially golden hamster (Mesocricetus auretus)

Excellent for reproductive research due to the strict progesterone, but not oestrogen, short gestation period, unique an anatomical feature like loose subcutaneous space, important for micro-circulation studies, cancer model, infection model for leptospirosis, vaccine studies

[64,65,66,67,68,69,70,71,72,73,74,75,76,77,78,79,80,81]

Rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus)

Good model for surgically created osteoarthritis, wound healing model, drug study, asthma model, cholesterol model, cardiovascular disease model, Alzheimer’s disease model

[82,83,84,85,86,87,88,89,90,91,92,93,94,95,96,97]

Equids (Equus)

Important for the study of articular defects, orthopaedic models, tendinopathies, asthma model, reproductive models. But, more care expenses are required

[98,99,100,101,102]

Cattle (Bos taurus)

Important for study of female reproductive model, pregnancy related issues, tuberculosis models. But, more care expenses are required

[103,104,105,106,107]

Goat (Capra hircus)

Potential for orthopaedic studies, mechanical circulatory support devices, model for female to male XX sex reversal

[108,109,110,111,112,113,114,115,116]

Sheep (Ovis aries)

Easy to handle, easy sampling, physiological and anatomical nature are similar to humans, good for surgical model for bone and wound healing, asthma model, heart pathology, vaccine development, but, mostly inbred strains

[117,118,119,120,121,122,123,124,125,126,127,128,129]

Cat (Felis catus)

Important models for asthma, obesity, type-2 diabetes mellitus, HIV, cerebral palsy

[130,131,132,133,134,135,136,137,138,139,140]

Dog (Canis familiaris)

Narcolepsy, hemophilia B, or hereditary diseases, cancer, musculoskeletal research, etc

[141,142,143,144,145,146,147,148,149,150]

Pig (Sus scrofa)

Large litter size, more similar with human physiology, important for cardiovascular study, Alzheimer’s disease, Atherosclerosis, Type 2 diabetes mellitus, Breast cancer, etc

[151,152,153,154,155,156]