Small Ruminants and Its Use in Regenerative Medicine: Recent Works and Future Perspectives.

Abstract

Medical and translational scientific research requires the use of animal models as an initial approach to the study of new therapies and treatments, but when the objective is an exploration of translational potentialities, classical models fail to adequately mimic problems in humans. Among the larger animal models that have been explored more intensely in recent decades, small ruminants, namely sheep and goats, have emerged as excellent options. The main advantages associated to the use of these animals in research works are related to their anatomy and dimensions very similar to those of humans in most physiological systems, in addition to their low maintenance and feeding costs, tendency to be docile, long life expectancies and few ethical complications raised in society. The most obvious disadvantages are the significant differences in some systems such as the gastrointestinal, and the reduced amount of data that limits the comparison between works and the validation of the characterization essays. Despite everything, recently these species have been increasingly used as animal models for diseases in different systems, and the results obtained open doors for their more frequent and advantageous use in the future. The purpose of this review is to summarize the general principles related to the use of small ruminants as animal models, with focus on regenerative medicine, to group the most relevant works and results published recently and to highlight the potentials for the near future in medical research.

Identification of IGF2BP1‐related lncRNA‐miRNA‐mRNA network in goat skeletal muscle satellite cells

“…During early postnatal development, these cells can proliferate to form new myoblast cells, and they fuse with existing muscle fibers, with effects on the number of muscle nuclei and protein synthesis (Bachman et al, 2018). As is known, goats have been increasingly used as animal models due to their dimensions, physiology and anatomy identical to those of humans (Alvites et al, 2021). In addition, goats are raised mainly for meat production.…”

“…Therefore, MuSCs are essential for muscle development. Recently, goats have been used as animal models for biomedical studies, as their body dimensions and anatomy are larger than conventional laboratory animals, but very similar to those of humans in most physiological systems (Alvites et al, 2021). In addition, goats are raised mainly for meat production which is closely related to fetal muscle development with lower meat production than other commercial animals, which hinders the development of goat industries.…”

Peripheral Nerve Injury Treatments and Advances: One Health Perspective

“…However, in humans the damage commonly exceeds 10 mm and nerve regeneration is slower [5,43]. Rodents' metabolic rate is higher, in comparison with humans, so nerve regeneration is also faster which makes it difficult to understand the true effectiveness of the used therapies enhancing nerve repair [5,82,83]. These rodents' extremely high neuroregenerative ability, makes it harder to correlate to the human species [5,43].…”

Morphological Aspects and Microscopic Analyses of Fibrous Tunic and Uveal Components in Bovine Eye

“…Ruminant eye is seen as advantageous in terms of these criteria (Iwata & Tomarev, 2008). In terms of model use, the ruminant eye is also frequently preferred and so many studies have been conducted in both cattle and sheep-goat eyes (Coroneo, 1990; Iwata & Tomarev, 2008; Schnichels et al, 2019; Thompson, 2020; Alvites et al, 2021).…”

“…In addition, due to the faster exenteration in the slaughterhouse, reaching the organ is achieved more effectively when compared to the time-consuming enucleation process in humans (Coroneo, 1990; Mohammadi et al, 2011). Moreover, postmortem enucleated eyes of ruminants are preferred for surgical training (Alvites et al, 2021).…”