The Anatomy and Physiology of Laboratory Mouse

Among the different types of vertebrate and invertebrate animals used in biomedical research, the laboratory mouse is the widely used vertebrate animal model. It remains the choice of model for many research hypotheses due to its small size, shorter life span, easy maintenance, short generation time and manipulable genetics. The mouse is used in understanding basic research, testing, teaching, genetics, physiology, psychology and many more areas of biomedical research. An important advancement in this regard is the whole-genome sequencing of both human and mouse; and both share synteny of chromosomes. This chapter reviews the existing and new unique features of the anatomy and physiology of mouse and their suitability to different experimental designs.