Quantcast
ZME Science
  • News
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Future
  • Space
  • Features
  • More
    • About
    • The Team
    • Advertise
    • Contribute
    • Our stance on climate change
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact
No Result
View All Result
ZME Science

No Result
View All Result
ZME Science
No Result
View All Result
Home Environment Animals

Scientists find first rodent with human-like menstruation cycle

It's good news for us, but perhaps not good news for the rodents.

Mihai Andrei by Mihai Andrei
June 15, 2016
in Animals, Health & Medicine, News
Reading Time: 2 mins read
A A
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterSubmit to Reddit

The spiny mouse could usher in a new generation of women reproductive studies. It’s good news for us, but perhaps not good news for the rodents.

Photo by Marcel Burkhard

Mice are a mainstay in biological studies, but when it comes to menstrual or female reproductive studies, there’s a big problem: mice don’t have a menstrual cycle. But now, scientists from the Monash University in Australia have found a species which defies this law: the spiny mouse.

“When you do science you’re not surprised at anything — but wow, this was a really interesting finding,” says Francesco DeMayo, a reproductive biologist at the US National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, who was not involved in the work.

The team found that the female mice averaged a 9-day menstrual cycle and spent three days — or 20 to 40 percent of their cycle — bleeding. This ratio is similar to that in women, who typically bleed for 15–35% of their 28-day cycle.

ADVERTISEMENT

To come up with these figures, they flushed the animals’ vaginas with saline solution daily for 18 days. Then, to ensure that the procedure itself isn’t causing the bleeding, they did the same for five common lab mice. They also dissected uteri taken from four mice, each at a different stage in their menstrual cycle.

Get more science news like this...

Join the ZME newsletter for amazing science news, features, and exclusive scoops. More than 40,000 subscribers can't be wrong.

   

From strictly an animal biology point of view, the discovery is intriguing. Why did only one mouse species evolve a menstrual cycle? No one really knows at this point. But the main interest comes from human medicine. There’s a reason why we often conduct mice studies – because they’re simple creatures, and yet similar to humans in many regards.

What the Monash team found out now could usher in a new “guinea pig” for many experiments. It’s an unfortunate fate for the spiny mouse, but we may be able to learn a lot from it. Or I could simply be speculating; at this point, it’s simply not clear.

ADVERTISEMENT

ShareTweetShare
Mihai Andrei

Mihai Andrei

Andrei's background is in geophysics, and he's been fascinated by it ever since he was a child. Feeling that there is a gap between scientists and the general audience, he started ZME Science -- and the results are what you see today.

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
  • News
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Future
  • Space
  • Features
  • More

© 2007-2019 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • News
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Future
  • Space
  • Features
  • More
    • About
    • The Team
    • Advertise
    • Contribute
    • Our stance on climate change
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact

© 2007-2019 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.