Establishment and Evaluation of Animal Models of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome / 中国实验方剂学杂志

ABSTRACT

Chronic fatigue syndrome （CFS） is a heterogeneous disease with dysfunction in multiple systems and multiple organs. Its etiology and pathogenesis have not been fully clarified， and its treatment also lacks specificity. The key to studying CFS is developing animal models that reflect the underlying mechanisms and etiology of CFS. The existing CFS modeling methods are complicated and not unified. By sorting out relevant literature，the present study evaluated the modeling methods，modeling standards，mechanisms， and clinical coincidence of the immune model，the stress model， and the disease-syndrome combination model in traditional Chinese medicine （TCM）. The immune model is mainly constructed from the perspective of pathophysiology， with easy operation and wide investigation， which can simulate the pathological characteristics of CFS to ensure pathogenesis research，but the experimental repeatability is general. Stress modeling is a common method for a variety of neuropsychiatric diseases，including CFS. Many different stressors can be employed to investigate the etiology of CFS， but their effects are unpredictable. Compared with the two western medicine models mentioned above，the TCM disease-syndrome combination model integrates modern medicine with TCM theory，with high clinical coincidence and great practical value. However，the TCM disease-syndrome combination model of CFS is still in the exploratory stage with a few types of models，which needs to be further improved， aiming to establish scientific，reasonable，simple， and efficient animal models to provide support for exploring the etiology，pathogenesis， and new treatment ideas of CFS.