• Question: How similar are human bodies to those of animals, and how many procedures made medically on humans can also be made on animals as well?

    Asked by zeeri to Mike, Pip, Tianfu, Tim, Tom on 3 Jul 2012.
    • Photo: Tim Stephens

      Tim Stephens answered on 3 Jul 2012:

      Quite similar, I think.
      I remember when I was at school, we had a talk from someone who said that pig’s bodies were nearly identical to ours in terms of how the organs fit together. He said that it should be possible to use pig’s organs to transplant into humans.

    • Photo: Tom Lister

      Tom Lister answered on 3 Jul 2012:

      We are animals of course. Lots of procedures are tested on mice before people, so they must have quite similar responses (and the same organs packed into their tiny bodies). We are not that similar to jellyfish for example, and you wouldn’t do a prosthetic knee or a triple heart bypass for one of those!

    • Photo: Philippa Bird

      Philippa Bird answered on 4 Jul 2012:

      However, interestingly, there are some key differences that you need to know if you are going to test medicines on animals. Cows and mice have immune systems similar to humans, which sheep don’t. So better not use sheep for vaccine research! Not everything that works in a mouse works the same in a human either.

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