Testing Medication on Mice in Competitive Settings Reveals Side Effects
In this Sept. 19, 2014, photo, Charles Cook, manager of facilities and operations at Champions Oncology, displays mouse carrying a cancer patient's tumor graft under its skin in a lab in Baltimore. Cancer patients are paying the private lab to breed mice that carry bits of their own tumors so treatments can be tried first on the customized rodents. The idea is to see which drugs might work best on a specific person's specific cancer. AP Photo/Patrick Semansky
As it turns out, competition may actually be a good thing in particular settings, most specifically, lab rat testing protocols.
Researchers have devised an innovative approach to testing for side effects caused by medications and diet, according to a University of Utah press release.
Their procedures involve using non-inbred wild mice and placing them into a environment in which they must compete with one another for food, mates, and nesting sites. Using this approach helps reveals potential side-effects that are not commonly detected by traditional caged lab rat testing protocols.
