5.10.2012

Perfect cousins?

Nicos Logothetis is a director at the Max Planck Institute for biological cybernetics in Germany. He introduces the subject of animal research at his institution. In the last paragraphs the following can be read:
The consequences of a prohibition of animal research for society, medicine and progress are immeasurable. It is certain, however, that it would drastically lower the chances that patients with incurable diseases might witness the development of effective treatment in the foreseeable future. Source: introduction to the topic of animals in research.
The variety of animals used in brain research ranges from insects such as flies to nonhuman primates via invertebrates, fish, birds, mice, rats, pigs, sheep, dogs and cats. However nonhuman primates are used because of the closeness of their functional principals and similarity in structures to those found in humans. This closeness makes them perfect cousins for the many questions research is attempting to answer. Areas of research include behavioral studies, cognition and language, immune systems, aging studies, heart research, xenotransplantation research, toxicology studies and pharmacological research. One can read some of the studies in the Journal of Medical primatology , whereas this site provides further information on the use of primates in research and its history.

Lesser perfect cousins and philogenetically more distant animals are also used in brain research as mentioned above. A nematode by the name of C.elegans is an invertebrate with a very primitive brain but a nervous system that uses neurotransmitters, receptors and signaling pathways close to those found in the human brain.

Image copyright Understanding animal research.org.uk


Another lesser perfect cousin is the Sea hare, which lead MD Erik Kandel to Nobel prize wining research on learning and memory. Even the fruit fly's nervous system contributes to advancing our knowledge of the human nervous system because of striking similarities between both. Zebra fish because of their transparency in early life stages are used in studying developmental neuroscience. Songbirds such as Zebra Finches help scientists understand how children learn language. 
The above information is taken from : www.brainfacts.org

Back to our perfect cousins the nonhuman primates and the scientists at the Max Planck institute with five medical therapies that were developed using animals in research.
Life saving medical treatments and therapies.

Can it therefore be said that animal research is transferable to clinical research? The answer for me is found here!

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