Table of Contents

Background of the laboratory rat
1. Historical Foundations
2. Taxonomy and Stocks and Strains
3. Translational Potential of Rats in Research

Biology and care
4. Functional Anatomy and Physiology
5. Clinical Pathology of the Rat
6. Reproduction and Breeding
7. Assisted Reproductive Technologies and Genetic Modification in Rats
8. Analysis of Behavior in Laboratory Rats
9. Nutrition
10. Housing and Environment

Clinical care and disease
11. Medical Management and Diagnostic Approaches
12. Bacterial, Mycoplasmal, and Mycotic Infections
13. Viral Disease
14. Parasitic Diseases
15. Neoplastic Disease
16. Metabolic, Traumatic, and Miscellaneous Diseases
17. Anesthesia, Analgesia, and Euthanasia
18. Care of Surgical and Other Fragile Models

Rats as research models
19. General Experimental Techniques
20. Integrating Biology with Rat Genomic Tools
21. Gnotobiotics and the Microbiome
22. Toxicology
23. Embryology and Teratology
24. Rat Immunology
25. Cardiovascular Research
26. Rat Models of Alcohol Use Disorder
27. Rat Models of Obesity, Metabolic Syndrome, and Diabetes
28. The Rate in Neuroscience Research
29. Rat Models of Central Nervous System Injury
30. Use of the Rat as a Model in Regenerative Medicine
31. Rat Models of Infectious Disease

About the Author

Mark Suckow received his DVM from the University of Wisconsin in 1987 and subsequently completed a post-doctoral residency in laboratory animal medicine at the University of Michigan in 1990. He spent 8 years as a clinical laboratory animal veterinarian at Purdue University and then 17 years at the University of Notre Dame where he served as Director of the Freimann Life Science Center and later as Associate Vice President for Research Compliance. Prior to coming to the University of Kentucky, he was Professor of Veterinary Population Medicine and Director, Research Animal Resources at the University of Minnesota. With an interest in cancer models, biomaterials models, and vaccines, Dr. Suckow has functioned as an independent and collaborative investigator and has published in refereed journals and has seven issued patents related to vaccine adjuvants and cancer vaccines. He has written or edited over 20 books on topics related to research and laboratory animal medicine. Further, he served as the 2006 President of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science and the 2011 President of the American Society of Laboratory Animal Practitioners; and currently he serves on the AVMA Council on Research and is a member of the Council on Accreditation of AAALAC, International. F. Claire Hankenson, DVM, MS, is the Director of MSU Campus Animal Resources and Attending Veterinarian at the Michigan State University. Research interests are refinements in the case and use of animals involved in research studies, particularly rodent clinical medicine, tail biopsy evaluations and humane endpoints. Ronald P. Wilson, VMA, MS, DACLAM, is the Professor and Chair of Comparative Medicine at Pennsylvania State University. Research interests are related to experimental surgery, pain, analgesia and anesthesia of laboratory animals. Patricia L. Foley, DVM, DCLAM, is the Director, Division of Comparative Medicine at Georgetown University.