• Question: Are mice eyes the closest to humans' in structure? Do you use any other animals' eyes?

    Asked by to Emma on 17 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Emma Reid

      Emma Reid answered on 17 Jun 2014:

      Hi there!
      This is a really important question so well done for asking it! Monkeys and pigs have eyes which are closest to humans but there are a lot of issues with using these animals for vision research. First of all there are ethical issues with using large animals like monkeys because they are so closely related to humans and it would be very expensive to look after them and have specially trained staff to look after them. Mice are used a lot because they are easy to look after and we can use special mice with genetic modifications to see what happens to the eye in disorders like diabetes. This means that we can then try to find ways to treat the disease. Hope this answers your question! 🙂

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