Humanizing the Mouse: In Defense of Murine Models of Critical Illness

Abstract

Murine models have been used to understand the mechanisms of inflammatory disease for decades and have become an indispensable tool for the vast majority of laboratories across the globe. Several key advantages of murine models explain their wide adoption by the scientific community. Most importantly, the discovery that embryonic stem cells from mice could be genetically manipulated to create transgenic or knockout animals allowed investigators to establish causal links between genes and disease phenotypes and earned Drs. Mario R. Capecchi, Martin J. Evans, and Oliver Smithies the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine in 2007. The subsequent development of Cre-lox and other recombinant DNA technologies allowed examination of the tissue-specific role played by genes in the disease pathogenesis and revolutionized our understanding of normal development. These genetically engineered mice have provided valuable insights into the development and progression of numerous diseases and have facilitated the development of novel diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for the treatment of human disease. The laboratory mouse offers investigators several additional advantages including the provision of several well-characterized and easily available inbred genetic strains, a host of laboratory reagents available for detailed phenotypic analysis, a wealth of genetic and transcriptional expression databases, relatively short breeding times, and low housing costs.