Rat Models of Respiratory Inflammation

In all medical and biological research, the ultimate aim is to understand pathological processes and to apply this understanding in the alleviation of human disease. Although laboratory-based molecular biology techniques are playing an ever increasing role, it is still necessary to use animal models of infection and disease. To date, this remains the only means by which we can obtain a contextual understanding of these processes. Since it is rare to find an animal model of disease that replicates human disease exactly, it is essential to choose the species and model to be investigated with great care. Although there are a great number of animal models of infection and disease that have been described in the scientific literature, there are still many practical constraints such as the availability of reagents, which may influence our choice of species or model.