Animal Models & Model Selection

Choose Sprague Dawley (SD) or Wistar rats for standard pharmacology, metabolic, and systemic toxicology studies, but select Long Evans rats when your protocol requires visual acuity, cognitive tracking, or prolonged surgical anesthesia. Your selection depends on four primary variables: primary endpoint type (behavioral/visual models require pigmented strains, whereas general toxicology favors albino stocks), hormone sensitivity […]

Male mice are predominantly selected in preclinical myocardial fibrosis models because they exhibit higher susceptibility to pro-fibrotic signaling and develop more robust, uniform cardiac remodeling than age-matched females. This sexual dimorphism is largely driven by hormonal regulation. Androgens such as testosterone promote pro-inflammatory cytokine expression and fibroblast activation, accelerating extracellular matrix deposition. In contrast, circulating