Rat (Rattus norvegicus)

The rat is an ideal research model because scientists have a deep understanding of rat physiological mechanisms. There are numerous rat models that mimic human diseases.

The rat is used extensively as a model organism for studying both normal and disease processes in the human. The rat is an ideal research model because scientists have a deep understanding of rat physiological mechanisms. There are numerous rat models that mimic human diseases. It is relatively easy to generate inbred congenic (nearly identical) and consomic strains. A consomic strain is an inbred strain with one of its chromosomes replaced by the homologous chromosome of another inbred strain via a series of marker-assisted backcrosses.