Mice | 377 GAO 2001 GAO-01–286R Drugs withdrawn from market Washington, DC: US General Accounting Office Greek, J.S., and Greek, R.C 2004 What will we if we don’t experiment on animals? Medical research for the twenty-first century Victoria, BC, Canada: Trafford Haiman, C.A et al 2006 Ethnic and racial differences in the smoking-related risk of lung cancer N Engl J Med 354:333–342 Joiner v General Elec Co., 864 F Supp 1310, 1323 (N.D Ga 1994) Kaiser, J 2008 Cancer genetics: A detailed genetic portrait of the deadliest human Cancers science, 321, 1280a-1281 LaFollette, H., and Shanks, N 1996 Brute science New York: Routledge Shanks, Niall 2002 Animals in science ABC Clio Shanks, N., and Pyles, R P 2007 Evolution and medicine: The long reach of Dr Darwin Philosophy, Ethics and Humanities in Medicine 2:4, (April), http://www.peh-med.com/ content/2/1/4 Wong, Albert H C., Gottesman, Irving I., and Petronis, Arturas 2005 Phenotypic differences in genetically identical organisms: The epigenetic perspective Human Molecular Genetics, Vol 14, Review Issue R11R18 Ray Greek, MD MICE Contributing to stem cell research, the fast-moving world of mouse genetics has catapulted these small creatures into the forefront of science The 2007 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded for isolating and modifying embryonic stem cells and introducing specific genes into the mouse germline Inserting viruses plus genes into the skin cells of an adult mouse transformed them into new stem cells, permitting the growth of new mouse skin and organ tissue With the new knockout technology used in mice, termed targeted genomics, specific genes can be added or deleted to assess their effects on behavior and physiology Mice are well-defined genetically, and procedures are available for manipulation of specific genes and control of reproductive outcomes New mouse strains with specified genetic constructs are created to study disease processes Cryopreservation (freezing) makes it possible to store embryos and blastocysts of mouse strains for later recovery, rather than needing to house colonies of valuable mouse strains The new vocabulary for mice includes terms such as mouse engineering, chimera, targeted genomics for knockout and knock-in mice, molecular constructs, genetic analysis, and phenotyping Expanding techniques for imaging can acquire significant information on the processes of disease from a small number of mice The most typical laboratory mammal, mice account for a large majority of all mammals used in research in the United States and Europe Their genetic similarities to humans combine with a tiny body size and high reproductive rate to make them an economical, efficient option as models for studying the human body, the effects of diseases, and the feasibility of treatments for diseases Specific genes can be added or deleted to examine the gene’s effects A further use of mice sometimes required by regulations is to evaluate the safety of new chemicals or products, drugs, and vaccines, as well as to measure the effects of limited or longterm exposure to a substance Very few mice are used in education and teaching While it is difficult to know the exact numbers of mice used in scientific procedures, detailed records from the United Kingdom’s Home Office show that mice account for 69 percent of the vertebrates