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Animals are often used to find treatments for human disease.
These mice are being used to mimic Alzheimer's disease for example.
In Alzheimer's disease
people have brain damage that gets worst over time.
Sufferers lose their memory
they find it more and more difficult to do everyday things
like making meals or washing.
Eventually, they can do little for themselves.
It's frustrating and upsetting for them and their families.
Mice can be altered to mimic human diseases such as Alzheimer's.
These Alzheimer's mice don't behave normally.
For example, they burrow
and dig less than normal mice.
Normal mice like to dig and burrow and we can measure this by timing how long it
takes mice to empty an artificial burrow
and by how quickly they bury marbles.
So these are simple measure of the difference between normal mice and Alzheimer's
mice.
These normal mice seem to be enjoying themselves emptying the tube
In the marble experiment the mice are not burying the marbless on purpose, the
marbles just gets submerged as the mice dig about.
Researchers the world over study Alzheimer's disease in many different ways,
including cell cultures and studies of human volunteers.
All these methods have limitations.
The use of animals, including mice is essential to study changes in behavior
in controlled conditions.
At present there is no cure for ALzheimer's and no effective treatment.
The disease is a grim prospect for sufferers and families.
Alzheimer's mice can be used to test possible medicines before trying them
out in people.
If a treatment means that these mice can do normal mouse-sy things,
like digging and borrowing,
it might be worth trying in people.