Animal Models of Allergic Airway Disease

Animal models of allergic airway disease have been indispensable for dissecting the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying human asthma. Broadly, these models employ sensitisation to allergens such as ovalbumin or house dust mite, followed by airway challenge to induce hallmark features including airway inflammation, hyperresponsiveness and remodelling. Species range from mice and rats to guinea pigs, sheep and non-human primates, each offering distinct advantages in cost, ease of manipulation and physiological relevance. Acute models generally span days to weeks and reproduce eosinophilic inflammation and reversible bronchoconstriction, whereas chronic protocols extend to months to capture persistent structural changes such as goblet cell metaplasia, subepithelial fibrosis and smooth muscle hypertrophy. Genetic and transgenic approaches have refined rodent systems to explore specific pathways, while humanised and invertebrate models supplement mechanistic studies. Despite interspecies differences, these platforms remain central to validating novel therapeutics, elucidating cell-cell communication circuits and linking inflammatory events to airway remodelling.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Recent work has demonstrated that prolonged allergen exposure in mice can be compressed into a four-week intranasal protocol using standardized doses of house dust mite, yielding airway hyperresponsiveness, eosinophilic infiltration and early remodelling equivalent to longer chronic regimens. This accelerated model reduces time and cost while faithfully reproducing both functional and histological features of human asthma. In parallel, studies of bioactive natural products have shown that oral administration of a mushroom sclerotial extract attenuates key drivers of remodelling, notably TGF-β1 and Activin A, and lowers Th2 cytokine production and IgE levels in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid. These findings highlight opportunities to interrogate therapeutic candidates in robust, time-efficient models that recapitulate airway inflammation and structural changes.

Animal Models of Allergic Airway Disease publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in animal models of allergic airway disease across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR): An exaggerated bronchoconstrictive response to stimuli, measured as increased airway resistance.

Airway remodelling: Structural alterations of the airway wall including epithelial thickening, subepithelial fibrosis and smooth muscle hypertrophy.

Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF): Fluid retrieved from the lower airways for analysis of cells, cytokines and antibodies.

Th2 cytokines: A subset of immune signalling proteins (e.g. IL-4, IL-5, IL-13) that promote eosinophilic inflammation and IgE production.

House dust mite (HDM) model: An allergic airway challenge in which mice are exposed to mite extracts to induce asthma-like inflammation.

Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq): A high-resolution method to profile gene expression in individual cells, revealing cellular heterogeneity and communication networks.

References

1. Asthma: The Use of Animal Models and Their Translational Utility. Cells (2023).
2. Single-cell analysis reveals alterations in cellular composition and cell-cell communication associated with airway inflammation and remodeling in asthma. Respiratory Research (2024).
3. Animals in Respiratory Research. International Journal of Molecular Sciences (2024).
4. Lignosus rhinocerotis extract ameliorates airway inflammation and remodelling via attenuation of TGF-β1 and Activin A in a prolonged induced allergic asthma model. Scientific Reports (2023).
5. A 4-Week Model of House Dust Mite (HDM) Induced Allergic Airways Inflammation with Airway Remodeling. Scientific Reports (2018).