ABSTRACT
Veterinarians with specialized training in laboratory animal medicine have played important supporting roles in institutions conducting toxicologic research. Much of the information used by them, as well as by other laboratory animal professionals and toxicologists, has been developed as a direct result of studies initiated in the basic sciences and in toxicology. By their very nature, toxicologic studies have required an understanding of the biological characteristics and needs of laboratory animals as well as an understanding of those variables that impact the performance of laboratory animals in research studies. Our understanding of laboratory animals is far from complete and is further complicated by the wide variety of species from which the toxicologist may choose. Species such as mice and rats are extensively used for which vast amounts of background data are available and whose biological characteristics have been well explored. Less commonly used species, such as guinea pigs, hamsters, and gerbils, have proportionately less known about them and much less published background data available. Recent efforts by a number of organizations to collect, analyze, and publish background data on a continuing basis in a variety of disciplines are helping to extend the knowledge of certain laboratory animal species [48,191].
