Use of Laboratory Mice for
Health Research
Health research is generally intended at finding out methods
that will resolve all health related problems in human
beings.
They generally deal with testing the harmful effects of
various substances on human body and how to protect mankind
from such materials.
They also observe various health conditions seen in human
beings and on how to keep them free from diseases.
This will include researching on various medicines and their
use and effect on our body.
in many such cases, before finalizing the results of the
studies, we can’t be sure about testing it on human beings.
Such a testing might sometimes lead to various dangerous
health related
problems which are generally tough to resolve too.
This is how we started using laboratory mice for various
health research and studies.
Laboratory mice
are often used as a first hand testing body for various
studies. You might have wondered why mice and why not any other
animals.
There are several reasons for using mice as the animal suitable
for these analysis and research cases.
For instance, in cancer research carried out around the
world, scientists use laboratory mice as human substitutes.
Ethics is the most important reason for this, because it is
unethical to make human beings a test element directly in the
initial stage itself.
Mice are generally small in size and are supposed to have a
rapid life cycle.
It is easier to modify mice according to the requirements of
the research. In most cases, such genetic variations will have
different impacts during diseases and on medicines.
Some of the traits will be more susceptible to diseases. So
for the study of specific diseases, we can use the genetic
variants also called as models.
Another major advantage of using mice in laboratory research
is because of the physiological similarities of the animal as
compared to human body.
Such a similarity will aid in identifying the metabolic
changes and progression of various diseases.
So application of various modern techniques used in medical
field becomes easier.
Various studies using laboratory mice in the field of
medicine have proved to be effective.
They have had better results than expected and helped in the
development of useful medicines.
This have always helped man kind to have more advanced
medicines for curing such dangerous diseases like cancer.
These positive impacts of using mice in health research
increased the use of mice.
There have been various questions coming up from the
perspective of protection of animals.
Still then, understanding the importance of using mice and
the reason of bringing good to the society made people support
the fact that mice is unavoidable for health research.
To limit the misuse of this usage, several laws have been
formulated by various governments.
The government agencies closely monitor the use of
laboratory mice in health research and ensure that all legal
regulations for the safety of animals are observed in such
laboratories.
Science owes a great deal to the family of mice in
research.
Almost all developments we witness in medical field are the
wonderful gifts that these animals have sacrificed for us.
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