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Unstressing intemperate models: how cold stress undermines mouse modeling.

Christopher L Karp¹

¹Division of Molecular Immunology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Research Foundation, Cincinnati, Ohio 45229, USA.

The Journal of Experimental Medicine

|June 6, 2012

Summary

Laboratory mice, crucial for biomedical research, often fail to accurately model human diseases due to cold stress. Addressing this environmental factor could significantly improve research reliability and therapeutic development.

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Area of Science:

Biomedical research
Animal models
Physiology

Background:

Mus musculus is the primary model organism for in vivo mechanistic studies in contemporary biomedical research.
Mice exhibit limitations as models, with many promising therapeutic approaches failing in human clinical trials after success in mouse studies.
Mice often poorly mimic human diseases, raising concerns about their translatability.

Purpose of the Study:

To highlight the limitations of using laboratory mice in biomedical research.
To investigate the impact of cold stress on mouse physiology and its implications for disease modeling.
To advocate for greater experimental attention to environmental variables in animal research.

Main Methods:

Review of existing literature on mouse models in biomedical research.

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Analysis of data concerning the effects of cold stress on mouse physiology.

Comparison of mouse physiology under laboratory conditions versus human physiological states.

Main Results:

Ubiquitous cold stress in laboratory mice profoundly affects their physiology.
These physiological changes impair the accurate modeling of human homeostasis and diseases in mice.
Current experimental conditions may compromise the validity of mouse models for human health research.

Conclusions:

Cold stress is a critical, overlooked variable in mouse model research.
Addressing cold stress can enhance the physiological relevance of mouse models.
Greater attention to environmental factors like temperature is essential for improving the translatability of findings from mouse studies to human medicine.