As researchers learn more about a certain disease, animals are used to develop and test these potential therapies. Models such as these are a fundamental part of applying biological research to real medical problems, allowing new targets for disease intervention to be identified. Data from animal studies is important before new therapeutic techniques and surgical procedures can be tested on humans. Diagnostic tools such as scanners, and implants such as heart pacemakers or artificial hips, are safe and adequate only because they were developed and tested in animals first. Many surgical techniques, such as open-heart surgery and heart transplants, rely on methods and equipment that were developed using …show more content…
So, animals are used as models for the study of human illnesses. Humans and animals share hundreds of illnesses, so, animals can act as models for the study of human illness. From such animal models we learn how disease affects both animal and human bodies, how the immune system responds, who will be affected, and more. While contributing to our understanding of diseases, animal models also enable researchers to explore potential therapies in ways which would be impossible in humans. Studying disease mechanisms in animal models leads directly to the development of new technologies and medicines that benefit both humans and animals. Animals which are altered to create models of disease are known as induced models. For example, surgery which damages a par section of the spinal cord in rats gives rise to symptoms like those seen in human patients with similar spinal cord damage. These animal models help researchers understand what happens in the body following this type of damage, and have been used in the development of new therapies. Recent advances in genetic technology have allowed the development of transgenic animals, which have new genes inserted into their DNA, allowing them to develop human diseases which do not naturally affect them. This has allowed mice to model many human diseases which were previously difficult to