As a disease model, the laboratory rat has contributed enormously to neuroscience research over the years. It has also been a popular animal model for Alzheimer's disease but its popularity has diminished during the last decade, as techniques for genetic manipulation in rats have lagged behind that of mice. In recent years, the rat has been making a comeback as an Alzheimer's disease model and ...

The locus underlying hereditary resistance to the anticoagulant warfarin (symbol in the rat, Rw) was placed in relation to 8 positionally mapped gene-anchored microsatellite loci whose positions were known in the genome maps of the rat, mouse, and human. Rw segregated with the markers Myl2 (zero recombinants) and Itgam, Il4r, and Fgf2r (one recombinant each) during linkage analysis in a congeni...

This study aimed to examine the relationship between exposure to rat urinary allergens, atopic status, smoking and the development of allergic symptoms and specific sensitization. It is a case-referent analysis of a cohort of 342 newly employed laboratory animal workers. Cases comprised persons developing symptoms of laboratory animal allergy or a positive skin prick test to rat urinary allerge...

Albino and hooded (or piebald) rats are one of the most frequently used laboratory animals for the past 150 years. Despite this fact, the origin of the albino mutation as well as the genetic basis of the hooded phenotype remained unclear. Recently, the albino mutation has been identified as the Arg299His missense mutation in the Tyrosinase gene and the hooded (H) locus has been mapped to the ∼4...

Between 15 and 18 days of age, rat pups develop an alternation strategy in a spatial non-match-to-sample task. Adapting the rat pups to the apparatus by housing them in it overnight, the difference in behavioral patterns can readily be observed in a single laboratory session. The opportunity of the pups to "nipple attach" to an anesthetized dam serves as the reinforcer. Discussion questions are...

A 39-year-old pet shop employee who sustained a bite from one of his store's rats developed fever and arthritis. Streptobacillus moniliformis was cultured from the patient's blood, confirming a diagnosis of rat-bite fever. Treatment with standard antibiotics was successful. Although rat-bite fever is commonly considered a zoonosis transmitted by wild or laboratory rats, our case emphasizes that...

Background: Curettage is an act of scraping the granulation tissue on lateral gingival wall periodontal pocket. After curettage, a pack was applied to control bleeding and keep wound area clean. The addition iodine leaves as alternative because it contains flavonoids that can help healing process. This study aims determine effect adding 10% leaf extract gel curettage process.Method: A true expe...