Beyond the mouse: non-rodent animal models for study of early mammalian development and biomedical research

Abstract excerpt

The preimplantation development of mammals generally follows the same plan. It starts with the formation of a totipotent zygote, and through consecutive cleavage divisions and differentiation events leads to blastocyst formation. However, the intervening events may differ between species. The regulation of these processes has been extensively studied in the mouse, which displays some unique features among...