ABSTRACT
Animal models are a very powerful tool in the study of the onset, development, and end of diseases, which provide helpful knowledge for human disease management. This chapter presents the use of microinjection-based production of transgenic mice as an example to introduce the methods of creating transgenic animals. It also presents several other transgenic techniques and describes the applications of transgenic animals. By using animal models as an "epitome" of human diseases, all valuable samples are easily collected for experimentation, which is difficult to do in clinical practice. As for spontaneous animal models, the similarity in the occurrence and development in natural conditions with the corresponding human disease give them high application values. The chapter introduces specific techniques and approaches employed to generate transgenic animals. Based on the concepts and systems of transgenic animal technology, it can be concludes that gene transfer into reproductive cells or early embryonic cells is the core technology for producing transgenic animals.
