A study on animal models of primary biliary cholangitis / 临床肝胆病杂志

ABSTRACT

An ideal animal model of primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) plays an important role in the research on physiopathological mechanism and drug research and development.In recent years,great achievements have been made in animal models which can reflect the features of PBC,such as positive serum anti-mitochondrial antibody and immunopathological injury of the bile duct.There are various methods for the preparation of animal models of PBC at present,including chemical or biological exposure and gene knockout.However,these models cannot completely simulate PBC in humans,since they have different serological,immunological,and histopathological features.This suggests the complexity of pathological mechanisms of PBC,including gene specificity and environmental changes and helps us to understand the pathogenesis of events in the early stage of PBC,such as the break of immune tolerance and specific attack of biliary epithelial cells.