Advantages of Dog Models

• Beagles are internationally recognized as standard laboratory animals.

• The Canidae family serves as an ideal model for studying human social, emotional, empathic, and related neuropsychiatric disorders.After 30,000 years of convergent evolution, dogs have a similar living environment and diet structure to humans, so they can more accurately simulate the mechanism of human disease.

• A relatively complete set of clinical examination methods are available in dogs such as nuclear magnetic, CT, B ultrasound, biochemistry. This will help facilitate relevant experiments.

• The physiological structure of the cardiovascular, digestive system, cerebrovascular system, and nervous system of the Canidae family are similar to that of humans, which make them suitable for physical interventional therapies and treatments.

• The experimental dogs have docile character, high degree of cooperation and provides good experimental repeatability.

Advantages of Pig Models

• Anatomical and physiological similarities: The anatomical structure and physiological characteristics of pigs are closer to humans in some ways, which makes the pig model more representative than other experimental animals such as mice.

• Organ size and tissue structure: The organ size and tissue structure of pigs are more similar to that of humans, which is crucial for modeling human diseases and conducting relevant research. For example, the similarity of pig hearts and lungs makes them an ideal model for the study of cardiovascular and respiratory diseases.

• Metabolic and nutritional similarities: The metabolic and nutritional needs of pigs are more similar to those of humans, which is very valuable for studying metabolic diseases and related disease mechanisms.

• Immune system similarities: The immune system of pigs is more similar to that of humans, which makes it more meaningful for the study of immune-related diseases and drug interactions.

• Long life: Pigs live longer than other laboratory animals, such as mice, which makes it more feasible to study chronic diseases, the aging process, and the effects of long-term treatments in pigs.

• Genetic diversity: Pigs are rich in genetic diversity, which provides better conditions for studying the effects of genetic basis and individual differences in disease susceptibility.

• Operability: Pigs are relatively large animals, which makes it easier to manipulate, sample, and monitor them, especially when surgical procedures or other interventional experiments are required.

• Reproductive physiology: The reproductive physiology of pigs is more similar to that of humans, which is very important for the study of reproductive system diseases and reproductive health.

Advantages of Gene Editing

• Phenotypic stability of experimental subjects - The experimental subjects are the dog/pig disease models established using gene editing technology, all of which are primary models with long phenotypic duration and stable inheritance. On top of that, the population can be expanded through natural breeding.

• Consistency of experimental subjects - Combined with somatic cell cloning technology, models with uniform individual and consistent genotypes can be batch-produced, reducing the impact of individual differences on experimental results.

• Accuracy of simulated disease - Different from acute models prepared by conventional modeling methods, gene edited disease models can truly simulate the gradual process of disease occurrence and evolution, and clinical symptoms are more accurate.