I agree with Chuck Miller's post re "resemblance" rather than
"identity" of animal models and their supposed human counterparts.
My question always is "Which human" when supposed relevance of an
animal model to humans in general is mentioned.
This is especially true of inbred and F1 hybrid animal models -
one can select strains which have similar P450, etc. constitutions as
particular humans but which do not resemble other humans. In fact, I
suggest that an animal model should be selected based on its
"resemblance" (in critical characteristics) to a particular
identified/characterized human population or subpopulation instead of
the criterion of resembling "Homo sapiens" per se.
George
Tel: (501) 543-7522
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