Reply #95: Mice are used for numerous reasons. [View All]

[Lurking Dem]

The NOD mouse has been bred (technically, inbred) to have type 1 diabetes. The syndrome they exhibit includes all of the same aspects as human type 1 diabetes. This includes, but is not limited to, abrupt onset of glucosuria, hypercholesterolemia, polyphagia, polydipsia, polyuria, and ketonemia.

The mice are extremely cheap and easy to handle. There are gazillions of them.

They are short lived and so many generations of testing can be performed. You can know whether a drug treatment affects a fetus, whether something about it carries over onto offspring, etc.

This cuts testing down to years rather than decades. Yes, decades.

I have guinea pigged drugs that were found to be SAFE to see if they were EFFICACIOUS. I almost died once doing that.

Bring on the fucking mice.