Why the need for animal models?

Question 1

Why would we experiment on animals rather than humans?

Answer 1

When human experimentation is:
unethical
unfeasible

Question 2

What are the main model organisms?

Answer 2

Zebrafish
Drosophila
Chick
Mouse

Question 3

5 reasons why these model organisms are useful?

Answer 3

1. Gene conservation- and processes controlled by genes
2. Similarities in the way the body is built and maintained
3. Basic metabolic pathways conserved
4. Easy to interfere with the genes
5. Can see inside the body and watch real time

Question 4

Main 6 reasons why we use animal models?

Answer 4

1. To see disease progression over a lifetime
2. To see the significance of gene x environment
3. To discover if theres a correlation or cause
4. To track DNA/proteins- in cells and tissues
5. To develop new therapeutics
6. To see whole body systems

Question 5

What is involved in a tissue specific knockout?

Answer 5

loxP is placed either side of the gene we want to knock out- ‘floxed’
Prerecombinase inserted downstream of the a tissue specific promoter
mate the mice
where LoxP+Cre interact- only in the tissue where cre is inserted- the floxed gene undergoes recombination and is deleted
fewer side effects than a KO mouse

Question 6

Advantage and disadvantages of a GWAS

Answer 6

ADV: identifies gene variants that are associated with disease susceptibility
DISADV: no information on where the gene is expressed, or how the protein encoded by the gene is involved in the disease