Inbred Strains of Guinea-pigs

Abstract

Although guinea-pigs have been extensively inbred in the past, and the two most widely used inbred strains can be traced back to 1906, several strains have been discontinued or accidentally lost, so that today research workers have a relatively narrow choice of genetic material. Thus, most research on guinea-pigs is conducted on the ubiquitous outbred ‘Dunkin—Hartley’ or one of the two most widely used inbred strains, strains 2 and 13. A number of inbred strains are available or in development, and are listed in this chapter, but, on the whole, inbred guinea-pigs are not freely available to most research workers. Ideally, in the future one or two centres throughout the world should each maintain half-adozen strains to ensure their future availability. The strains should also be characterised in more detail to provide additional background data for future research workers.