Advances in the establishment and evaluation of animal models of secondary lymphedema / 中华显微外科杂志

ABSTRACT

Secondary lymphedema is a chronic progressive disease caused by the obstruction of lymphatic reflux, which leads to a series of secondary affection. There is no cure at present. Exploring the pathogenesis and treatment of lymphedema is based on animal models that mimic the pathophysiology of chronic lymphedema in humans. Currently, there are many known animal models of lymphedema, such as the limb lymphedema model of mice, dogs and other animals, and the rabbit ear lymphedema model. But most of them cannot induce the persistent and stable lymphedema temporarily, which lead to a deadlock in the related research progress. Therefore, it is necessary to improve and even create new animal models of lymphedema. This paper summarises the progress of relevant literature and provides references for further improving the establishment of a lymphedema animal model. It also summarise existing methods for evaluating lymphedema or lymphatic vessel function to provide an evaluation tool for modified or new animal models.