Question 1

Which alternate methods are now available instead of traditional use of mice and monkey models for biomedical research?

Accepted Answer

Due to many ethical and budgetary concerns about traditional methods, new strategies and systems have been adapted. Some of these models are cell culture, Danio rerio (zebrafish), Drosophila melanogaster (fruit fly) and Caenorhabditis elegans (worm).

Question 2

How do I choose the research model for my study?

Accepted Answer

The selection of which organisms to use as a research model depends on the nature of the disease or mechanism being studied and the scientific questions being asked. Please review the table 1 in the article.

Question 3

What is the limitation of using cell culture for my research?

Accepted Answer

Although cell culture models represent a fast and powerful tool for proof of concept, results obtained in vitro often poorly correlate with in vivo mechanisms. This is due in part to the fact the mechanisms studied in vitro occur in a simplified, highly controlled but often poorly understood intracellular and extracellular environment with little physiological relevance. Moreover, the use of dissociated cells precludes access to the behavioral output of biological mechanisms.

Question 4

Which is the medium of growth for C. elegans and what diet should be maintained?

Accepted Answer

C. elegans can be grown on agar medium in Petri dishes, where it can be maintained on a simple diet of Escherichia coli bacteria, which makes this model very easy and cost-effective.

Question 5

What are some of the benefits of using C. elegans model for my research?

Accepted Answer

Besides being cost-effective, C. elegens have a short life cycle for over two weeks, which is very useful for studying their development. C. elegans has been used widely for answering questions related to neurodegenerative diseases. It also provides models for many human diseases including congenital heart disease and kidney disease. Another unique advantage of C. elegans over other multicellular model organisms is that individuals can be frozen indefinitely and revived to obtain an F2 generation within a week, thus eliminating the cost of maintaining colonies of mutants.

Question 6

What makes C. elegans an excellent system to study neurological disorders?

Accepted Answer

The nervous system of C. elegans is very simple and uses most of the neurotransmitters presents in the mammalian brain. These characteristics make it a desirable model for studying the neuronal connectome and cellular mechanisms involved in complex disorders.

Question 7

What are the advantages of using Drosophila melanogaster model for my studies?

Accepted Answer

Drosophila is relatively inexpensive and easy to culture and there are very few ethical and regulatory restrictions on its use in laboratory. Like for C. elegans, the fly’s short life cycle (it takes approximately 12 days at 25°C to obtain a fertile adult fruit fly) and large brood size (120 eggs per adult and per day represent one of the many advantages of this model organism in biomedical research. These advantages make Drosophila a powerful alternative to costly and time-consuming rodent experiments for unveiling the basic mechanisms involved in human diseases.

Question 8

Why are zebrafish useful as models of development?

Accepted Answer

Zebrafish model has been used for decades to study development and pathophysiology. Zebrafish share a largely conserved physiology and anatomy with mammals. A recent study indicated that 84% of the genes known to be associated with human disease have a counterpart in the zebrafish genome. Furthermore, their genome sizes are approximately 20–40% of the mammalian genome, and it makes them the only vertebrates available for large-scale mutagenesis.

Question 9

Which countries have comparatively larger population of Zebrafish in their freshwaters?

Accepted Answer

Zebrafish is a small tropical freshwater fish present in river basins of India, Northern Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, and South Asia.

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