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Living inside the box: environmental effects on mouse models of human disease.

Published version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

Change log

Authors

Abstract

The impact of the laboratory environment on animal models of human disease, particularly the mouse, has recently come under intense scrutiny regarding both the reproducibility of such environments and their ability to accurately recapitulate elements of human environmental conditions. One common objection to the use of mice in highly controlled facilities is that humans live in much more diverse and stressful environments, which affects the expression and characteristics of disease phenotypes. In this Special Article, we review some of the known effects of the laboratory environment on mouse phenotypes and compare them with environmental effects on humans that modify phenotypes or, in some cases, have driven genetic adaptation. We conclude that the 'boxes' inhabited by mice and humans have much in common, but that, when attempting to tease out the effects of environment on phenotype, a controlled and, importantly, well-characterized environment is essential.

Description

Keywords

Diet, Environment, Human, Husbandry, Mouse models, Stress, Animals, Carcinogens, Diet, Disease Models, Animal, Environment, Humans, Immunity, Laboratories

Journal Title

Dis Model Mech

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

1754-8403
1754-8411

Volume Title

11

Publisher

The Company of Biologists
Sponsorship
National Institutes of Health grants R01 AR049288, CA089713 and R21 AR063781. Warden and Fellows of Robinson College