There are hundreds of pathological mutants in mice and rats, and many of these are interesting for biomedical research. Such mutants have a Mendelian mode of inheritance. While an inbred strain may be used by investigators with many different interests, mutant trends are used for very specialized projects. For example, the obese rat is invaluable for studies associated with metabolism and physiology, but is seldom used in other fields or investigations. However, athymic nude rats have already made a substantial contribution to many scientific disciplines, such as immunology and cancer research. Mutants can be maintained on either outbred or inbred genetic backgrounds. An example of a mutant rat maintained by Harlan on outbred genetic backgrounds, is the Hsd:RH-Foxn1rnu.
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