Assoni Lucas, Couto Ana Julia Melo, Vieira Brenda, Milani Bárbara, Lima Alice Souza, Converso Thiago Rojas, Darrieux Michelle
Laboratório de Microbiologia Molecular e Clínica, Universidade São Francisco, Bragança Paulista, Brazil.
Front Microbiol. 2024 Mar 15;15:1367422. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1367422. eCollection 2024.
is among the most relevant pathogens worldwide, causing high morbidity and mortality, which is worsened by the increasing rates of antibiotic resistance. It is a constituent of the host microbiota of different mucosa, that can invade and cause infections in many different sites. The development of new treatments and prophylaxis against this pathogen rely on animal models to identify potential targets and evaluate the efficacy and possible side effects of therapeutic agents or vaccines. However, the validity of data generated is highly dependable on choosing models that can adequately reproduce the hallmarks of human diseases. The present review summarizes the current knowledge on animal models used to investigate infections, with a focus on mucosal sites. The advantages and limitations of each model are discussed and compared; the applications, extrapolations to human subjects and future modifications that can improve the current techniques are also presented. While mice are the most widely used species in animal studies, they present limitations such as the natural resistance to the pathogen and difficulties in reproducing the main steps of human mucosal infections. Other models, such as (fruit fly), and (zebrafish), contribute to understanding specific aspects of the infection process, such as bacterial lethality and colonization and innate immune system response, however, they but do not present the immunological complexity of mammals. In conclusion, the choice of the animal model of infection will depend mainly on the questions being addressed by the study, while a better understanding of the interplay between bacterial virulence factors and animal host responses will provide a deeper comprehension of the disease process and aid in the development of effective preventive/therapeutic strategies.
是全球最相关的病原体之一，导致高发病率和死亡率，抗生素耐药率的上升使情况更加恶化。它是不同黏膜宿主微生物群的组成部分，可侵入并在许多不同部位引起感染。针对这种病原体的新治疗方法和预防措施的开发依赖于动物模型，以识别潜在靶点并评估治疗药物或疫苗的疗效及可能的副作用。然而，所产生数据的有效性高度依赖于选择能够充分再现人类疾病特征的模型。本综述总结了用于研究感染的动物模型的当前知识，重点是黏膜部位。讨论并比较了每种模型的优缺点；还介绍了其应用、对人类受试者的推断以及可改进当前技术的未来改进方法。虽然小鼠是动物研究中使用最广泛的物种，但它们存在局限性，如对病原体的天然抵抗力以及在再现人类黏膜感染主要步骤方面的困难。其他模型，如（果蝇）、和（斑马鱼），有助于理解感染过程的特定方面，如细菌致死率、定植和先天免疫系统反应，然而，它们并不具备哺乳动物的免疫复杂性。总之，感染动物模型的选择将主要取决于研究要解决的问题，而更好地理解细菌毒力因子与动物宿主反应之间的相互作用将有助于更深入地理解疾病过程，并有助于开发有效的预防/治疗策略。
