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The guinea pig is also widely used to provide tissues and organs for research. Guinea pig blood components are widely used, and isolated organ preparations such as guinea pig lung and intestine are extensively used in research to develop new medicines. Such tissue and organ preparations were important in the discovery and early development of beta blockers to treat high blood pressure and drugs to treat stomach ulcers.
Numerous developments have used guinea pig intestine at some point in their development, for example the anti-nausea drugs used by cancer patients and the identification of naturally occurring pain killing substances known as enkephalins. Guinea pig intestine has also been extensively used to study the 'little brain' in the gut, which contains as many nerve cells as the spinal cord. This has given giving insights into not only the control of the gut itself but also the workings of nerve circuits. The information gathered from these studies is being used to develop computer models.
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