ABSTRACT
This chapter tabulates different mouse mutations and purported analogous human and animal diseases. Laboratory mice have proven to be extraordinarily useful for biomedical research due to their small size, short breeding time, polytoceous nature, relatively low husbandry costs, and short life span. The disillusionment of scientists using animal models often results from their idea that the model must exactly mimic the disease process they are studying, usually a specific human disease; yet this feature is only one of a group of criteria that are used to determine the value of an animal model. Failure of an animal model to meet the criteria for a specific human disease falls into three categories: the animal system is incompletely or inaccurately described, the human disease is incorrectly or incompletely described, and there are species-specific responses to biological processes that are different from those in humans. Inbred laboratory mice, maintained in a controlled environment, provide a uniquely different population.
