Alvites Rui Damásio, Branquinho Mariana Vieira, Sousa Ana Catarina, Lopes Bruna, Sousa Patrícia, Mendonça Carla, Atayde Luís Miguel, Maurício Ana Colette
Centro de Estudos de Ciência Animal (CECA), Instituto de Ciências, Tecnologias e Agroambiente (ICETA) da Universidade do Porto, Praça Gomes Teixeira, 4051-401 Porto, Portugal.
Departamento de Clínicas Veterinárias, Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas de Abel Salazar (ICBAS), Universidade do Porto (UP), Rua de Jorge Viterbo Ferreira, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal.
Biology (Basel). 2021 Mar 22;10(3):249. doi: 10.3390/biology10030249.
Medical and translational scientific research requires the use of animal models as an initial approach to the study of new therapies and treatments, but when the objective is an exploration of translational potentialities, classical models fail to adequately mimic problems in humans. Among the larger animal models that have been explored more intensely in recent decades, small ruminants, namely sheep and goats, have emerged as excellent options. The main advantages associated to the use of these animals in research works are related to their anatomy and dimensions, larger than conventional laboratory animals, but very similar to those of humans in most physiological systems, in addition to their low maintenance and feeding costs, tendency to be docile, long life expectancies and few ethical complications raised in society. The most obvious disadvantages are the significant differences in some systems such as the gastrointestinal, and the reduced amount of data that limits the comparison between works and the validation of the characterization essays. Despite everything, recently these species have been increasingly used as animal models for diseases in different systems, and the results obtained open doors for their more frequent and advantageous use in the future. The purpose of this review is to summarize the general principles related to the use of small ruminants as animal models, with a focus on regenerative medicine, to group the most relevant works and results published recently and to highlight the potentials for the near future in medical research.
医学和转化科学研究需要使用动物模型作为研究新疗法和治疗方法的初步手段，但当目标是探索转化潜力时，经典模型无法充分模拟人类问题。在近几十年来得到更深入研究的较大型动物模型中，小型反刍动物，即绵羊和山羊，已成为优秀的选择。在研究工作中使用这些动物的主要优势与其解剖结构和体型有关，它们比传统实验动物更大，但在大多数生理系统中与人类非常相似，此外还具有饲养和喂养成本低、性情温顺、预期寿命长以及在社会上引发的伦理问题较少等特点。最明显的缺点是在某些系统（如胃肠道系统）中存在显著差异，以及数据量有限，这限制了不同研究之间的比较和特性分析文章的验证。尽管如此，最近这些物种越来越多地被用作不同系统疾病的动物模型，所获得的结果为它们在未来更频繁和更有利地使用打开了大门。本综述的目的是总结与使用小型反刍动物作为动物模型相关的一般原则，重点是再生医学，对最近发表的最相关研究和结果进行归类，并突出其在医学研究中的近期潜力。
