Mice discover that they have a rule similar to that of people

2016/06/14 Etxebeste Aduriz, Egoitz - Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Medikuntza
• Zoologia
• Anatomia/Fisiologia

Researchers from Clayton University of Australia discover that an African mouse has a rule. The discovery has been surprising, since the rest of known rodents have no rule. Therefore, the mice and rats of the laboratories are very bad models to investigate the female reproductive system and its alterations. The researchers believe that with this discovery we can be faced with a model more suitable for it.

The females acomys c2-3 inus have seen a cycle of nine days, with an approximate duration of 3 days, between 20 and 40% of the cycle. In this sense it resembles the female cycle, since the duration of menstruation in women is 15-35% of the cycle of 28 days.These results have been published in the web bioRxiv.

Now, on the one hand, researchers are investigating how the tissue that covers the uterus in each cycle grows in the mouse and how it disappears; and on the other hand, they are studying the transcript (the entire RNA that is expressed at a given time), in order to know how the genes regulate the cycle.

Researchers expect new opportunities to open up to investigate the female reproductive system, although it is still early to know. The only suitable models so far were primates. In fact, only 1.5% of mammals have a rule, most of them primates. Normal laboratory mice can also cause menstruation, but ovaries should be removed and large hormonal doses should be given.