[3][2] According to the Canadian Council for Animal Care, a total of 1,931 hamsters were used for research in 2013 in Canada, making them the sixth-most popular rodent after mice (1,233,196), rats (228,143), guinea pigs (20,687), squirrels (4,446) and voles (2,457).
[5] In research, when hamsters are injected with the carcinogen NNK several times over six months, they will develop that sort of cancer.
[8] Scientists studying this disease broadly accept Syrian hamsters as animal models for researching it.
[8] The cancer itself develops tumors in a predictable way starting with hyperkeratosis, then hyperplasia, then dysplasia, then carcinoma.
[12] Leaving that controversy aside, Syrian hamsters injected with SV40 certainly will develop various cancers in predictable ways depending on how they are exposed to the virus.
[31] To simulate reperfusion, one method is to tie a cuff around the pouch to restrict blood flow and cause ischemia.
[31] Several inbred strains of hamsters have been developed as animal models for human forms of dilated cardiomyopathy.
Syrian hamsters may be infected with the virus, and like humans will have viral replication and lesions in the respiratory tract which can be examined with histopathological tests.
[42] Leptospira viruses cause Leptospirosis in humans and similar symptoms in Syrian hamsters.
[44] Bacteria that have been studied by infection Syrian hamsters with them include Leptospira, Clostridioides difficile, Mycoplasma pneumoniae, and Treponema pallidum.
[45] Parasites which have been studied by infecting Syrian hamsters with them include Toxoplasma gondii, Babesia microti, Leishmania donovani, Trypanosoma cruzi, Opisthorchis viverrini, Taenia, Ancylostoma ceylanicum, and Schistosoma.
[53] One way to study is to inject hamsters with indometacin, which causes an ulcer within 1–5 hours depending on the dose.
[54] If repeatedly given doses, hamsters get severe lesions and die within 5 days from peptic ulcers in their pyloric antrum.
[54] A model for creating a chronically ill hamster which will not die from the ulcers is to give naproxen by gavage.
[55] Syrian hamsters are also widely used in research into alcoholism, by virtue of their large livers, and ability to metabolise high doses.
For example, Martin Ralph, Michael Menaker, and colleagues used this behavior to provide definitive evidence that the suprachiasmatic nucleus in the brain is the source of mammalian circadian rhythms.
[57] Hamsters have a number of fixed action patterns that are readily observed, including scent-marking and body grooming, which is of interest in the study of animal behavior.
[61] They also prefer opaque tubes closed at one end, 7.6 cm in diameter, to use as shelter in which to nest and sleep.