The Sabra rat: definition of a laboratory animal.

Study objectives were to provide investigators of the biomedical research community with comprehensive and reliable baseline data for the Sabra rat strain. In addition to a physiological, developmental, hematological and biochemical definition of this laboratory rat, widely used at the Hebrew University and other research laboratories in Israel, a historical insight offers some understanding of the origin and development of this strain. Data collected from 331 male and female rats over a 2-year period characterize the Sabra rat as a useful, stable, economical laboratory animal with good viability under conventional conditions.