Why Are Laboratory Rats Important for Drug Development?

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• Similarity of physiological functions. The physiological and biochemical processes of rats are very close to those of humans, which allows the results of drug tests performed on rats to speculate to some extent on their effects in humans.
• Ease of manipulation. Compared to larger animal models, rats are easy and less expensive to raise and handle, facilitating extensive efficacy testing in the early stages of drug discovery.
• Genetic Stability. The relatively stable genome of the rat makes it suitable for genetically related studies, which will provide opportunities to discover new drug targets in drug discovery.
• Abundant models. Disease models based on rats are abundant and diverse, including but not limited to heart disease, diabetes, cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, etc., which is conducive to the screening and optimization of drugs in simulated disease environments.

Learn more：Rat as a Disease Model