Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Review Article
  • Published:

A miracle enough: the power of mice

Abstract

“A mouse is miracle enough to stagger sextillions of infidels” Leaves of Grass, Walt Whitman The mouse has become our experimental surrogate. It is the creature we turn to to do the experiments, so important in reaching an understanding of ourselves, that are either technically impossible or morally inconceivable in human subjects.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Jacobs, H.J. et al. A genetic linkage map of the laboratory rat, Rattus norvegicus . Nature. Genet. 9, 63–69 (1995).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Zhang, Y. et al. Positional cloning of the mouse obese gene and its human homologue. Nature 372, 425–432 (1994).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Davison, M.T. et al. Segmental trisomy as a mouse model for Down syndrome. in The Phenotypic Mapping of Down Syndrome. and Other Aneuploid Conditions 117–133 (Wiley-Liss, New York, 1993).

    Google Scholar 

  4. Nishina, P.M., Johnson, J.P., Naggert, J.K. & Krauss, R.M. Linkage of atherogenic lipoprotein phenotype to the low density lipoprotein receptor locus on the short arm of chromosome 19. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci U.S.A. 89, 708–712 (1992).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Paigen, B. et al. Ath-1, a gene determining atherosclerosis susceptibility and high density lipoportein levels in mice. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 84, 3763–3767 (1987).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Paigen, B. Genetics of reponsiveness to high cholesterol and high fat diets in the mouse. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. (in the press).

  7. Coleman, D.L. Obese and diabetes: two mutant genes causing diabetes-obesity syndromes in mice. Diabetologia 14, 141–148 (1978).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Sly, W.S. Gene therapy on the Sly. Nature Genet. 4, 105–106 (1993).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Paigen, K. A miracle enough: the power of mice. Nat Med 1, 215–220 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1038/nm0395-215

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nm0395-215

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing