ABSTRACT
Since the 1950s, when colony production of germfree rats (GF) and GF mice was established, the use of these animal models in the biomedical sciences has become widespread. The models have been used to attack a wide variety of problems, from the bacterial activation of carcinogens to the transplantation of allogeneic bone marrow, and from cholesterol metabolism to the effects of dietary restriction on the aging syndrome. The nomenclature used in publication will be limited to terms of general usage. Gnotobiotic, derived from the Greek “gnotos” meaning known, and “biota”, together, indicate an animal with associated flora or fauna that is fully defined by accepted methodology. Although the work with GF chickens had been carried out in Metchnikoff’s laboratory in Paris, the importance of the GF animal was also recognized in Germany. Sweden, however, had remained neutral, and it was there that GF studies continued.
