May 1, 2003, Gazette These tiny telemeters shown on the palm of
Dr. Bruce Van Vliet’s hand are surgically inserted into mice in
order to transmit blood pressure readings 24 hours a day. Mice
have become the new standard for researchers studying the
cardiovascular system. “The mouse is now the Volkswagen of
genetic change and has become the workhorse – or workmouse of
science,” said Dr. Bruce Van Vliet, a researcher in basic
medical sciences who is studying blood pressure in mice. Ten
years ago, cardiovascular research was mainly on rats. But
around 1990 molecular biologists began to make genetically
modified mice. The result was the ideal research tool – an
animal with a very specific change, perhaps just one deleted
gene, could be produced. “It’s a tremendous advantage to be able
to study a single gene’s contribution to something like high
blood pressure, which affects one in five Canadians,” said Dr.
Van Vliet. One of the problems in using mice is that they are
very tiny, about one-tenth the size of rats. “