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Hamsters (Laboratory) - Pathology (view source)
Revision as of 11:25, 6 January 2011
, 11:25, 6 January 2011→Introduction
==Introduction==
==Introduction==
Hamsters are now commonly used in laboratory testing, but for many years other species including mice, rats and guinea pigs were used for studies requiring small easily managed animals. In 1919 the first study using hamsters was undertaken assessing the susceptibility of Chinese hamsters to ''leishmania''. A number of difficulties were encountered including an inability to breed the animals and hamsters were not used again until the 1930s. Syrian hamsters ''(Mesocricetus auratus)''were used and were found to be easier to breed and had more desirable traits for laboratory testing than Chinese hamsters. Syrian hamsters have gone on to become the most commonly encountered laboratory hamster species with around 500,000 per year currently used in the US.
==Strains and Stocks==
==Strains and Stocks==