Lind Nanna Marie, Moustgaard Anette, Jelsing Jacob, Vajta Gabor, Cumming Paul, Hansen Axel K
Department of Experimental Medicine, University of Copenhagen, Panum Institute, Blegdamsvej 3B, Copenhagen N, Denmark.
Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2007;31(5):728-51. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2007.02.003. Epub 2007 Mar 4.
The use of pigs in neuroscience research has increased in the past decade, which has seen broader recognition of the potential of pigs as an animal for experimental modeling of human brain disorders. The volume of available background data concerning pig brain anatomy and neurochemistry has increased considerably in recent years. The pig brain, which is gyrencephalic, resembles the human brain more in anatomy, growth and development than do the brains of commonly used small laboratory animals. The size of the pig brain permits the identification of cortical and subcortical structures by imaging techniques. Furthermore, the pig is an increasingly popular laboratory animal for transgenic manipulations of neural genes. The present paper focuses on evaluating the potential for modeling symptoms, phenomena or constructs of human brain diseases in pigs, the neuropsychiatric disorders in particular. Important practical and ethical aspects of the use of pigs as an experimental animal as pertaining to relevant in vivo experimental brain techniques are reviewed. Finally, current knowledge of aspects of behavioral processes including learning and memory are reviewed so as to complete the summary of the status of pigs as a species suitable for experimental models of diverse human brain disorders.
在过去十年中，猪在神经科学研究中的应用有所增加，在此期间，猪作为一种用于人类脑部疾病实验模型的动物的潜力得到了更广泛的认可。近年来，有关猪脑解剖学和神经化学的可用背景数据量大幅增加。猪脑具有脑回，在解剖结构、生长和发育方面比常用的小型实验动物的大脑更类似于人类大脑。猪脑的大小使得通过成像技术能够识别皮质和皮质下结构。此外，猪作为用于神经基因转基因操作的实验动物越来越受欢迎。本文重点评估在猪身上模拟人类脑部疾病的症状、现象或结构的潜力，特别是神经精神疾病。本文回顾了将猪用作实验动物与相关体内实验性脑技术有关的重要实际和伦理方面。最后，回顾了包括学习和记忆在内的行为过程方面的当前知识，以完成对猪作为适合多种人类脑部疾病实验模型的物种的现状总结。
