The Biology of the Laboratory Rabbit

Patrick J. Manning, Daniel H. Ringler, Christian E. Newcomer

• Publisher: Academic Press
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN:
  9780124692350
• Edition: 2
• eBook ISBN:
  9781483288826
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• Subtopic: Zoology
• Index: Biological Sciences

After nearly 20 years, the publication of this Second Edition of The Biology of the Laboratory Rabbit attests to its popularity within the scientific community as well as to the need to update an expanding database on the rabbit as a major species in laboratory investigation. The principal aim of this text is to provide a comprehensive and authoritative source of scientifically based information on a major laboratory animal species. The text continues to emphasize the normal biology as well as diseases of the European (domestic) rabbit, Orytolagus cuniculus, especially the New Zealand White breed, with occasional reference to other rabbit species (Sylvilagus sp.) and hares (Lepus sp.). New topics have been added to this second edition in response to changing trends in biomedical research and product testing as well as to suggestions from readers.New chapters included on: - Anesthesia and analgesia - Models in infectious disease research - Models in ophthalmology and vision research - Polyclonal antibody production - Toxicity and safety testing - Drug doses and clinical reference data

CHAPTER 1

Taxonomy and Genetics^*

Richard R. Fox

Publisher Summary

Laboratory rabbits, descendents of the European wild rabbit, Oryctolagus cuniculus, along with other rabbits, hares, and pikas, are classified as the members of the order Rodentia or rodents. However, instead of the four incisor or chisel teeth characteristic of rodents, rabbits have six. The additional pair is reduced in size and placed directly behind the large pair in the upper jaw. These little teeth are rounded and lack a cutting edge. The order Lagomorpha comprises two major families, the Ochotonidae and Leporidae, with many genera and species native to all parts of the world. The pikas, sometimes called rock rabbits or mouse hares, are small, tailless members with short, broad, rounded ears, chunky bodies, and short legs. The front pair of legs is a little shorter than the rear pair. This chapter discusses the genetic features of rabbits. Rabbits could produce hemolysins and agglutinins against red blood cells of other rabbits. On the basis of this work, rabbits are classified into four blood types. Rabbits may be inbred by a number of different breeding systems; the simplest is the brother–sister inbreeding. In this system, it is possible to intersperse father–daughter or mother–son matings with no change in the theoretical rate of inbreeding provided that no one animal is used more than two generations and that these generations are consecutive. Animals may be inbred by half sib mating, although the rate of change is somewhat slower.

I. Taxonomy and Geographical Distribution

A. Taxonomy

B. Geographical Distribution

II. Origin and Domestication

A. Historical Considerations

B. Domestication

C. Breed Formation

III. Genetics

A. Size Inheritance

B. Embryological Variants

C. Growth and Morphology

D. Pathology

E. Immunology

F. Inbreeding

G. Research Stocks

H. Mutations

I. Linkage

J. Chromosomes: Numbers and Morphology

K. Techniques for Karyotyping

L. Transgenic Rabbits

IV. Inbred Strains

References

I TAXONOMY AND GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION

The European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) occurs on the European continent in three forms: wild, feral, and domestic. In North America, however, only the domestic and the feral forms exist. The wild or ancestral type probably evolved in the Iberian Peninsula and spread to other regions of the Mediterranean. The familiar domestic form is typified by a great variety of breeds and strains which are used for meat as well as fancy and laboratory animal production. The feral rabbit is a reversion from the domestic to the wild type, and examples may be found on the Farallon Islands off the coast of San Francisco, the San Juan Islands in the Juan de Fuca Straits in Washington, the Channel Islands off Santa Barbara, California, and Isla del Flores near Montevideo, Uruguay. The only population of wild Oryctolagus in the Americas has spread from the island of Tierra del Fuego, Chile, northward into the mainland several hundred miles north of Santiago.

A Taxonomy

Laboratory rabbits, descendents of the European wild rabbit, Oryctolagus cuniculus, along with other rabbits, hares, and pikas, were originally classified as members of the order Rodentia, or rodents. However, instead of the four incisor or chisel teeth characteristic of rodents, rabbits have six. The additional pair is reduced in size and placed directly behind the large pair in the upper jaw. These little teeth are rounded and lack a cutting edge. They are only moderately useful and cannot be seen without opening the mouth and looking in back of the large upper incisor teeth. However, they constitute the scientific basis for placing the animals in a separate order, the Lagomorpha (58). The zoological position of the lagomorphs (58, 267) can best be seen in outline form (Table I).

TABLE I

Taxonomic Outline of the Genus Oryctolagus^a

^aReferences 58, 198a, 224, 267.

B Geographical Distribution

The order Lagomorpha comprises two major families, the Ochotonidae (pikas) and Leporidae (rabbits and hares), with many genera and species native to all parts of the world (6, 7, 15, 130, 136, 158, 209, 216, 224, 267). The pikas, sometimes called rock rabbits or mouse hares, are small, tailless members with short, broad, rounded ears, chunky bodies, and short legs. The front pair of legs is but little shorter than the rear pair. This is in contrast to the usually larger rabbits and hares, which have long ears and relatively long hind limbs. Major genera of the Leporidae include Lepus (hares), Oryctolagus (true rabbits), and Sylvilagus (cottontail rabbits). The Idaho pygmy rabbit, Brachylagus, is the smallest rabbit, not only in the Americas but in the world. The Mexican pygmy rabbit, Romerolagus, is slightly larger and actually more like a pika than a rabbit. Examples of some of the current major species in each genus, including natural distributions, may be seen in Table II.

TABLE II

GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF MEMBERS OF THE ORDER LAGOMORPHA^a

^aReferences 6, ...

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• AMERICAN COLLEGE OF LABORATORY ANIMAL MEDICINE SERIES
• Copyright
• List of Contributors
• Preface
• List of Reviewers for Chapters in This Volume
• Chapter 1: Taxonomy and Genetics
• Chapter 2: Colony Husbandry
• Chapter 3: Anatomy
• Chapter 4: Physiology
• Chapter 5: Basic Biomethodology
• Chapter 6: Anesthesia and Analgesia
• Chapter 7: Clinical Biochemistry and Hematology
• Chapter 8: Bacterial Diseases
• Chapter 9: Viral Diseases
• Chapter 10: Protozoal Diseases
• Chapter 11: Arthropod and Helminth Parasites
• Chapter 12: Neoplastic Diseases
• Chapter 13: Inherited Diseases and Variations
• Chapter 14: Nutrition and Nutritional Diseases
• Chapter 15: Metabolic, Traumatic, Mycotic, and Miscellaneous Diseases
• Chapter 16: Zoonoses and Occupational Health Considerations
• Chapter 17: Atherosclerosis Research
• Chapter 18: Models in Infectious Disease Research
• Chapter 19: Models in Ophthalmology and Vision Research
• Chapter 20: Polyclonal Antibody Production
• Chapter 21: Toxicity and Safety Testing
• Selected Drug Dosages and Clinical Reference Data
• Index