What can be caught from mice? - briefly
Mice can harbor transmissible agents such as hantavirus, salmonella, leptospira, and ectoparasites like fleas and mites. These organisms pose health risks to humans and other animals via direct contact, bites, or contaminated surfaces.
What can be caught from mice? - in detail
Mice serve as sources of a wide range of biological material that can be isolated for research, diagnostics, and therapeutic development. The most commonly obtained entities include:
- Pathogenic microorganisms: bacteria (e.g., Salmonella, Listeria), viruses (e.g., lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus, hantavirus), and fungi that naturally infect rodent populations.
- Parasitic organisms: ectoparasites such as mites and fleas, and endoparasites including Mycobacterium spp. and protozoa like Toxoplasma gondii.
- Genetic material: genomic DNA, RNA, and mitochondrial DNA extracted from tissues, blood, or cultured cells for sequencing, gene expression analysis, and transgenic studies.
- Cellular components: primary fibroblasts, epithelial cells, neurons, and immune cells (macrophages, lymphocytes) harvested from organs or bone marrow for in‑vitro assays.
- Serum and plasma: blood fractions containing antibodies, cytokines, and acute‑phase proteins useful for immunological profiling and vaccine testing.
- Tissues and organs: liver, heart, brain, and spleen samples for histopathology, proteomics, and metabolomics investigations.
- Exosomes and extracellular vesicles: nanometer‑scale particles released by cells, employed as biomarkers or drug‑delivery vectors.
- Stem cells: embryonic or induced pluripotent stem cells derived from mouse embryos or reprogrammed somatic cells, employed in regenerative medicine models.
Each category requires specific collection protocols to preserve integrity and prevent contamination. For infectious agents, biosafety level considerations dictate containment measures. Genetic and cellular extracts demand rapid processing and storage at low temperatures to avoid degradation. Serum and plasma must be separated promptly and kept at −80 °C for long‑term stability. Tissue harvesting typically follows perfusion fixation or flash‑freezing, depending on downstream applications.
The diversity of recoverable material underscores the mouse’s central role in biomedical research, providing essential resources for disease modeling, drug discovery, and fundamental biology.