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The Anatomy and Physiology of Laboratory Rat

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Essentials of Laboratory Animal Science: Principles and Practices

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Abstract

The laboratory rat is commonly used as an experimental model in biomedical research. Characteristics such as short life span, ease of breeding, short generation time, and requirement of smaller space have made laboratory rats as the most commonly used experimental animals along with mice in the field of basic and applied research. Animal studies fetch the best results by making the right choices of animal models. Despite decades of basic research done and data generated on rodent anatomy and physiology, researchers tend to overlook the proximity of these details to the human system while testing and selecting the right model and testing their hypothesis. This chapter reviews the important points of anatomy and physiology of laboratory rats in comparison to humans for a better understanding of the subject. The main focus has been on salient anatomical features of laboratory rat which is different and unique and may influence experimental design and outcome. Applied knowledge related to the husbandry of laboratory rats has also been covered.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhubaneswar, India

    Saurabh Chawla

  2. Institute of Life Sciences, Bhubaneswar, India

    Sarita Jena

Authors
  1. Saurabh Chawla
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  2. Sarita Jena
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Saurabh Chawla .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Experimental Animal Facility, National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi, Delhi, India

    P. Nagarajan

  2. Central Animal Facility, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, Karnataka, India

    Ramachandra Gudde

  3. Veterinary Pharmacology and Toxicology, Madras Veterinary College, Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

    Ramesh Srinivasan

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Chawla, S., Jena, S. (2021). The Anatomy and Physiology of Laboratory Rat. In: Nagarajan, P., Gudde, R., Srinivasan, R. (eds) Essentials of Laboratory Animal Science: Principles and Practices. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-0987-9_9

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