Table 1.

Comparing ferret to other animals currently used as models of preterm brain injury. G is gestational age, P is postnatal day.

		Mouse	Rat	Rabbit	Ferret	Dog	Pig	Sheep	Non-Human Primate
Developmental Biology	Placentation	Hemochorial placenta	Hemochorial placenta	Hemochorial placenta	Endothelio-chorial placenta	Endothelio-chorial placenta	Epithelio-chorial placenta	Epithelio-chorial placenta	Hemochorial placenta
	Complete gestation (days)	G18.5	G21.5	G31	G41	G59-63	G110	G147	G185 in baboons
	Age comparable to 23–25 week gestation human infant	P3	P3	G25	P10	P0	G91	G91	G125 in baboons
	Altricial	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes
Financial	Cost of husbandry	+	+	++	++	+++	+++	+++	++++
Consideration	Artificial feeding and need for other advanced care following brain injury	No	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	No, fetus returned to ewe after procedure with intact uterus	Yes
Brain Development	White matter volume (%)	9.6	12.2	16.1	unknown	unknown	33	32	37
	Time when eyes open	P16-20	P15-18	P9-10	P35	P 9-14	P0	P0	G126
Technical Considerations	Availability of antibodies	++++	++++	+++	+	++	+++	+++	+++
	Indwelling catheters for fetal monitoring	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
	Cardiovascular monitoring/blood sampling	Non-invasive neonatal test	Non-invasive neonatal tests	Invasive catheters only in adults	Invasive catheters only in adults	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Outcome measures	Long-term outcome measures of brain injury	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Yes
	Use of complex behavioral studies to assess outcomes of brain injury	Battery of complex motor, behavior and cognitive tests	Battery of complex motor, cognitive and behavioral tests	Mainly motor tests	No	No	No	No	Cognitive and behavioral tests available
Ethical Considerations		+	+	+	++	++	+++	+++	++++