Department of Pharmacology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Department of Pharmacology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada,
Gerontology. 2019;65(6):610-619. doi: 10.1159/000501333. Epub 2019 Jul 22.
Although frailty has been extensively investigated for the last 2 decades, preclinical models of frailty have only been developed over the past decade. Frailty is a concept that helps to explain the difference between chronologic age and biologic age and to discuss health span along with lifespan. In general, a frail individual will be more susceptible to adverse health outcomes than a healthy, nonfrail individual of the same age. However, the biology and mechanisms of frailty are still unclear. The development of preclinical models of frailty and frailty assessment tools are invaluable to geriatric research. This review briefly describes the concept of frailty and discusses the newly developed animal models of frailty, specifically the frailty phenotype- and frailty index-based models. Mouse models are the most common models for preclinical frailty research, but rat and canine models for frailty assessment have also been developed. These models can facilitate the testing of frailty-specific treatments and help to investigate the effects of various interventions on frailty. Similarities and differences between human and animal models, including sex differences in frailty, are also discussed. The availability of animal models of frailty is a valuable and welcome addition to the study of frailty, aging, or the disorders of old age and will enable a better understanding of frailty mechanisms.
尽管虚弱在过去的 20 年中得到了广泛的研究，但虚弱的临床前模型仅在过去十年中才得到发展。虚弱是一个概念，可以帮助解释生理年龄和生物年龄之间的差异，并讨论健康寿命和寿命。一般来说，虚弱的个体比同年龄的健康、非虚弱个体更容易出现不良健康结果。然而，虚弱的生物学和机制仍不清楚。虚弱的临床前模型和虚弱评估工具的开发对老年医学研究具有重要价值。本文简要描述了虚弱的概念，并讨论了新开发的虚弱动物模型，特别是基于虚弱表型和虚弱指数的模型。小鼠模型是虚弱的临床前研究中最常见的模型，但也开发了用于虚弱评估的大鼠和犬类模型。这些模型可以方便地测试针对虚弱的特定治疗方法，并帮助研究各种干预措施对虚弱的影响。还讨论了人类和动物模型之间的相似之处和不同之处，包括虚弱方面的性别差异。虚弱动物模型的出现是对虚弱、衰老或老年疾病研究的有益补充，将有助于更好地理解虚弱的机制。
