An inbred strain is defined as a strain that has been through at least 20 generations of sib-mating (or its equivalent), making animals from the same inbred strain effectively genetically identical. Inbred strains, transgenic and congenic mice with inbred backgrounds are commonly used mouse models. Searches were done through MESH tree terms and NCBI MESH annotations. Mouse inbred strains and their citations in PUBMED database in selected years, as of July 8, 2022. In spite of this, the low variation and useful attributes described above have made mouse models an invaluable tool for advancing biomedical progress. Rosshart SP et al implanted C57BL/6 embryos into wild mice to produce a new colony of C57BL/6 mice ('wildlings') which retained natural microbiota and pathogens. The latter mice more closely resemble humans in terms of immune traits. However, laboratory mice are generally raised in abnormally hygienic facilities that differ from the pathogen-rich environments of free-living populations of mice and/or pet store mice. Mouse models of many human diseases have also been developed to advance the studies of disease pathogenesis, and to evaluate the effectiveness and toxicities of various candidate drugs. Technologies, such as transgenic methods, have been very well developed in mouse models to study the genetics and the functions of specific genes. The prevalence of mouse models in biomedical research is not surprising given that mice require relatively inexpensive care, reproduce quickly, and have a high genetic similarity to humans. It is clear that research conducted on mouse models continues to be an important part of our collective research efforts and knowledge, even with ongoing efforts to replacing animal testing with cell culture models or computational prediction, especially for toxicological studies. Tables 2 and 3 list the number of articles annotated with specific medical subject headings (MeSH) or search parameters related to mice in the PUBMED database. Most of the publications surveyed by Labome cited various strains of mice (along with rats, and occasionally rabbits, ferrets, guinea pigs, and rhesus macaque).

Mice are the most frequently cited animal model in biomedical publications (Table 1). Some of the interesting mouse models are discussed later in this article. The aforementioned animal models are used for research in immunology, oncology, physiology, pathology, and increasingly, neuroscience. The majority of these animals are supplied by four major providers, The Jackson Laboratory, Charles River Laboratories, Taconic Biosciences and Harlan Laboratories. Other strains, such as A/J mice, CD1 mice, and ICR mice, were also used. The survey results indicate that mouse is the overwhelmingly preferred laboratory animal the most widely used mouse and rat strains are C57BL/6 mice, BALB/c mice, Sprague-Dawley rats and Wistar rats. Labome has surveyed formal publications citing animal models to provide an overview of animal models in publications (Table 1). Labome surveys literature for instruments and reagents. The genomes of the major model organisms have been sequenced, verifying a high level of genetic conservation among model organisms and humans.

Today they are indispensable in biomedical research contributing to our understanding of the functions of genes, the etiology and mechanisms of different diseases, and the effectiveness and the toxicities of medicines and chemicals. Animal models have been critical tools since the early days of scientific discovery.

Hamster maze vs human trap