The Laboratory Rat: Relating Its Age with Human’s

By late 18th or early 19th century, albino rats became the most commonlyused experimental animals in numerous biomedical researches, as theyhave been recognized as the preeminent model mammalian system. but,the precise correlation between age of laboratory rats and human isstill a subject of debate. a number of studies have tried to detect thesecorrelations in various ways, but, have not successfully provided anyproper association. thus, the current review attempts to compare rat andhuman age at different phases of their life. the overall findings indicatethat rats grow rapidly during their childhood and become sexuallymature at about the sixth week, but attain social maturity 5?6 monthslater. in adulthood, every day of the animal is approximately equivalentto 34.8 human days (i.e., one rat month is comparable to three humanyears). numerous researchers performed experimental investigations inalbino rats and estimated, in general, while considering their entire lifespan, that a human month resembles every?day life of a laboratory rat.these differences signify the variations in their anatomy, physiology anddevelopmental processes, which must be taken into consideration whileanalyzing the results or selecting the dose of any research in rats whenage is a crucial factor.