Could the nematode worm replace rats and mice in animal experiments?
A primitive roundworm called Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) is being evaluated in a university laboratory in North America as a cheaper and quicker alternative to rats and mice in testing chemicals for several kinds of toxicity. We look at how this may be achieved. In its natural environment, C. elegans spends its brief life dining on microbes in the soil. But Jonathan Freedman of Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences envisions that, in a laboratory setting, these simple animals could substantially reduce, and in some cases perhaps eventually replace, the need for expensive, large-scale rodent studies. The tiny roundworm has long been a favorite among molecular biologists and health researchers since its 959 cells contain many genes and proteins that function similarly to those of higher animals, including humans. Freedman, an associate professor of environmental toxicology who has worked with C. elegans since graduate school, now seeks to apply t
