Understanding Cellular Mechanisms Underlying Airway Epithelial Repair: Selecting the Most Appropriate Animal Models

Table 1

Animal models of mechanical injury. Variation in the severity of injury can be expected to influence the timing of the repair process.

Models	Damage site	Tools	Effect on epithelium	Severity	References
Rat	Tracheae	Curettage	Complete removal of intact mucosa	Severe	[10]
Calf	Tracheae	Cotton swabs	Basal layer retained	Mild	[14]
Hamster	Tracheae	Blunt probe	Basal layer retained	Mild	[4–6, 15]
Rat	Tracheae	Blunt probe	Basal layer retained	Mild	[27]
Hamster	Tracheae	Blunt probe	Complete removal of intact mucosa	Severe	[28]
Rat	Tracheae	Blunt probe	Complete removal of intact mucosa	Severe	[7]
Guinea pig	Tracheae	Steel probe	Scattered basal cells remained attached to the BM	Mild	[2]
Guinea pig	Tracheae	Flattened scrapper	Complete removal of intact mucosa	Severe	[8]
Sheep	Bronchi	Endobronchial brushing	Complete removal of intact mucosa and submucosal regions	Severe	[25]