5 ms·
it's a great day for mouse health
by plg 11y ago
it's a great day for mouse health
- wiremine 11y agoYou say that tongue in cheek, but as a non-scientist, I've always wondered how much "mouse science" ultimately translates to humans. My guess is it's very low, but knowing a percentage would help me better understand how to proceed reports like this.
- moioci 11y agoNot all that low: https://www.genome.gov/10001345 https://www.genome.gov/10001345
- jules 11y agoIt depends on what kind of science it is. Mice are very very similar to humans at a chemical level. They have a similar genome, their bodies are basically the same as ours, they have the same organs, the same blood, the same cells, and the same chemical processes happen in those cells. They are just a bit smaller and arranged in a different way. That explains why scientists use mice as models for humans at all. However, with diseases that happen mostly in the elderly like Alzheimer's and cancer it's not so clear. Mice die at a young age, before those diseases really happen. Mice have to be genetically manipulated to develop those diseases. The development of those artificially caused diseases may not be the same as the development of those diseases in humans. The mice also still have a young body despite having the disease. This makes healing them a lot easier.
- pbnjay 11y agoMice are ~30% similar genetically to humans, so a surprising amount of transfers. Rats are a bit more similar IIRC, but mice breed quicker so it's easier to do bigger studies... Source: Used to work in mouse research on addiction (alcohol, cocaine, nicotine, etc). Edit: This link gives even more specifics on the similarity: https://www.genome.gov/10001345 https://www.genome.gov/10001345 -- 30% is probably accurate, but in terms of function, it's even higher.
- sliverstorm 11y ago30% similar? Didn't we find that bananas share 50% of genes with humans?
- plg 11y agothat would explain a lot
- jerf 11y agoIf it were that low, we would not use them as models. Also bear in mind that mouse models are merely part of a large set of animal models that we use: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_model_organisms#Vertebrates https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_model_organisms#Verteb...
- melling 11y agoWe can also make older mice young again: http://www.businessinsider.com/scientists-make-old-mice-young-again-2013-12 http://www.businessinsider.com/scientists-make-old-mice-youn... The real problem with medicine is that there's no easy way to have "agile" and rapid iteration in humans. Drugs, for example, take decades and billions to get to market.
- refurb 11y agoYou have a good point. Keep in mind that this is a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease. That is, these mice have a genetic defect that causes similar changes to that seen in human Alzheimer's disease. These mice do not have the same disease as in humans.
- peeters 11y agoRelevant West Wing dialog: MARGARET Let me ask you this...Red meat has been found to cause cancer in white rats. Maraschino cherries have been found to cause cancer in white rats. Cellular phones have been found to cause cancer in white rats. Has anyone examined the possibility that cancer might be hereditary in white rats? DR. GRIFFITH Let me tell you something, I'm not 100% sure we've ruled that out.
- tormeh 11y agoReminds me of a lecturer I had in a neuroscience class that informed us that "no one really checked whether all neurons had the same constants as the ones from the giant squid, but just assumed they did" (or something similar). Apparently anyone who thought of it assumed that something so blindingly obvious would already have been examined by someone else. It took decades before the error was found.