Knowra Laboratory rat Laboratory rat A rat bred or maintained for scientific research, commonly descended from domesticated strains of the brown rat. Its controlled breeding and well-characterized biology make it useful in experiments.
Toxicology : The study of harmful effects that chemicals, drugs, and other agents have on living organisms. Rat studies help assess toxicity and organ damage before substances reach human trials.
Brown rat : A large rodent species, Rattus norvegicus, native to northern Asia and now distributed worldwide. Most laboratory rat strains descend from this species.
Domestication of the rat : The process by which humans bred and kept rats, producing populations adapted to captivity. Captive breeding made rats available for study before modern laboratory strains emerged.
Laboratory mouse : A mouse bred or maintained for scientific research, often from genetically defined strains. Mice often offer stronger genetic tools, while rats differ in size, behavior, and physiology.
Pharmacology : The study of how drugs interact with biological systems and how those interactions produce effects. Rat models are used to investigate drug action, dosage, and metabolism.
Inbred strain : A population produced through repeated close breeding to make individuals genetically similar. Genetic uniformity can reduce variation in experimental results.
Wistar rat : An outbred laboratory rat stock established at the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia. Its development helped standardize rat research in the early twentieth century.
Guinea pig : A domesticated South American rodent used in research and historically in biomedical experiments. Guinea pigs have distinct physiology and immune responses that suit different experimental questions.
Behavioral neuroscience : The study of how brain and nervous-system activity produces behavior. Rat behavior provides experimental measures of learning, memory, stress, and motivation.
Outbred stock : A maintained animal population bred to preserve genetic diversity rather than uniformity. Outbred rats can better represent biological variation than highly uniform strains.
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