Wistar rats
The Wistar rat is an outbred albino rat. This breed was developed at the Wistar Institute in 1906 for use in biological and medical research, and is notably the first rat developed to serve as a model organism at a time when laboratories primarily used the house mouse (Mus musculus). More than half of all laboratory rat strains are descended from the original colony established by physiologist Henry Herbert Donaldson, scientific administrator Milton J. Greenman, and genetic researcher/embryologist Helen Dean King.[1][2][3]
The Wistar rat is currently one of the most popular rats used for laboratory research. It is characterized by its wide head, long ears, and a tail length that is always less than its body length. The Sprague Dawley and Long–Evans were developed from Wistars. Wistars are more active than others like Sprague Dawleys. The spontaneously hypertensive rat and the Lewis are other well-known stocks developed from Wistars.
See also
References
- ↑ Clause, B. T. (1998). "The Wistar Institute Archives: Rats (Not Mice) and History", Mendel Newsletter February, 1998. Template:webarchive
- ↑ The Wistar Institute: History, http://www.wistar.org/about_wistar/history.html
- ↑ Clause; "The Wistar rat as a right choice: Establishing mammalian standards and the ideal of a standardized mammal" , http://link.springer.com/10.1007/BF01061973 , https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01061973