Lab mice with wild microbes developed for better modeling human diseases: study
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E-mail Xinhua, August 2, 2019
WASHINGTON, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. researchers developed a new mouse model that acquires the microbes and pathogens of wild mice via surrogacy, which can effectively translate the research in mice into advances in human health.
The study published on Thursday in the journal Science showed that those wildlings could mirror human immune responses while the traditional lab mice failed to do so.
Unlike clean lab mice raised in artificial settings, wild mice have developed symbiotic relationships with microbes in the outside world.
A team led by scientists from the U.S. National Institute of Health (NIH) transplanted embryos of a commonly used strain of lab mice into female wild mice, who then gave birth to and raised wildlings.
The researchers compared the microbiota of the wildlings, wild mice and lab mice, and they found that the wildlings closely resembled wild mice in their bacterial microbes present at the gut, skin, and vagina, as well as in the number and kinds of fungi and viruses present.
A healthy microbiome is important not only for the immune system, but also for digestion, metabolism, even the brain, according to the paper's lead author Stephan Rosshart with NIH's National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
"The wildling model could help us better understand what causes diseases, and what can protect us from them, thus benefiting many areas of biomedical research," said Rosshart.
Microbiota refers to the trillions of tiny microbes, such as bacteria, fungi, and viruses, that live in and on the bodies of people and animals and play a critical role in keeping immune systems healthy.
They also found that the microbiota in mice was stable across five generations and could fully recover despite administration of antibiotic for seven days.
In two previous studies, drugs used to target immune responses were successful in treating lab mice in two preclinical trials, but consequently failed to have have any therapeutic effects in humans. In the new study, wildlings and lab mice were given the same drugs, and the wildings, but not the lab mice, responded like the human in clinical trials.
If the model is used widely, it could improve the validity and reproducibility of biomedical studies, according to the study. Enditem
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