Selecting the right animal model in pre-clinical research is critical to obtain translatable results to human conditions. This is mostly true in neurological research, where the complexity of the brain and nervous system requires careful consideration of species-specific similarities in brain structure, function, and disease progression.
You make a great point about the importance of choosing the right animal models in pre-clinical research, especially in neurology. This is because the brain and nervous system are so complex that it's crucial to look for a specific species with similarities in brain structure to help us get results that translate to humans. In addition, it's interesting to think about how technologies like optogenetics and advanced imaging can further enhance our understanding across different models. Balancing scientific relevance and ethical considerations is key in this field.
The most important factor I believe must be how similar their neurological function and structure are to the human neurological system. No matter what the moral behind using each species is, at the end of the day, it all comes out to the fact that their sacrifice are for the purpose of saving human. To obtain translatable results to human being, I believe their is no other important factor than the similarity of such species to the human brain. This does not only ensure that the treatment is applicable to human, but also save meaningless sacrifices on the animals, no matter which species that is.