Inbred Strains of Rats

Abstract

The first listing of inbred strains of rats was by Billingham and Silvers (1959). This is the fifth listing and has been substantially revised, although it is heavily dependent on previous listings (Festing and Staats, 1973). In contrast with previous listings, an attempt has been made to cite the original reference for any given strain characteristic. Particular attention has also been given to studies involving several inbred strains and, where possible, the strains have been ranked on their characteristics with approximately the top quartile being classified as ‘high’ and the bottom quartile as ‘low’. Thus, low litter size (10/12)’ indicates that the strain in question ranked tenth out of twelve strains examined for litter size. It should be strongly emphasised that the ranking may be dependent on environmental as well as genetic factors. In a different environment strains could rank differently. Known polymorphisms are given in Table 14.1.