Sprague Dawley rats: Difference between revisions

The Sprague Dawley is an outbred, multipurpose breed of [[wikipedia:Albino_rat|albino rat]] used extensively in medical and nutritional research.<ref>{{cite journal|vauthors=Drachman RH, Root RK, Wood WB|title=Studies on the effect of experimental nonketotic diabetes mellitus on antibacterial defense. I. Demonstration of a defect in phagocytosis|journal=The Journal of Experimental Medicine|volume=124|issue=2|pages=227–40|date=August 1966|pmid=4380670|pmc=2180468|doi=10.1084/jem.124.2.227}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|vauthors=Hsu CC, Lai SC|title=Matrix metalloproteinase-2, -9 and -13 are involved in fibronectin degradation of rat lung granulomatous fibrosis caused by ''Angiostrongylus cantonensis''|journal=[[International Journal of Experimental Pathology]]|volume=88|issue=6|pages=437–43|date=December 2007|pmid=18039280|pmc=2517339|doi=10.1111/j.1365-2613.2007.00554.x}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|vauthors=Horiuchi N, Suda T, Sasaki S, Takahashi H, Shimazawa E, Ogata E|title=Absence of regulatory effects of 1alpha25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 on 25-hydroxyvitamin D metabolism in rats constantly infused with parathyroid hormone|journal=[[Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications]]|volume=73|issue=4|pages=869–75|date=December 1976|pmid=15625855|doi=10.1016/0006-291X(76)90202-3}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|vauthors=Sukov W, Barth DS|title=Three-dimensional analysis of spontaneous and thalamically evoked gamma oscillations in auditory cortex|journal=[[Journal of Neurophysiology]]|volume=79|issue=6|pages=2875–84|date=June 1998|pmid=9636093|doi=10.1152/jn.1998.79.6.2875}}</ref> Its main advantage is its calmness and ease of handling.<ref>{{cite web|title=Online Medical Dictionary|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081202042953/http://cancerweb.ncl.ac.uk/cgi-bin/omd?rats%2C%2Bsprague-dawley|archive-date=2 December 2008|url-status=dead|url=http://cancerweb.ncl.ac.uk/cgi-bin/omd?rats,+sprague-dawley|date=12 December 1998|access-date=15 December 2007}}</ref> This breed of rat was first produced by the Sprague Dawley farms (later to become the [[wikipedia:Harlan_(company)|Sprague Dawley Animal Company]]) in [[wikipedia:Madison,_Wisconsin|Madison, Wisconsin]], in 1925. The name was originally hyphenated, although the brand styling today (Sprague Dawley, the trademark used by [[wikipedia:Envigo|Envigo]]) is not. The average litter size of the Sprague Dawley rat is 11.0.<ref name="sprague_dawley_rat">{{cite web|title=Sprague Dawley Outbred Rat|url=http://www.harlan.com/products_and_services/research_models_and_services/research_models/sprague_dawley_outbred_rat.hl|publisher=[[Harlan Laboratories]]|access-date=2012-10-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121026035220/http://www.harlan.com/products_and_services/research_models_and_services/research_models/sprague_dawley_outbred_rat.hl|archive-date=2012-10-26|url-status=dead}}</ref>

These rats typically have a longer tail in proportion to their body length than Wistars. They were involved in the [[wikipedia:Séralini_affair|Séralini affair]], where the herbicide [[wikipedia:RoundUp|RoundUp]] was claimed to increase the occurrence of tumor in these rats. However, since these rats are known to grow tumors at a high (and very variable) rate, the study was considered flawed in design and its findings unsubstantiated.