Animal Models of Systemic Sclerosis: Using Nailfold Capillaroscopy as a Potential Tool to Evaluate Microcirculation and Microangiopathy: A Narrative Review

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is an autoimmune disease with three pathogenic hallmarks, i.e., inflammation, vasculopathy, and fibrosis. A wide plethora of animal models have been developed to address the complex pathophysiology and for the development of possible anti-fibrotic treatments. However, no cur...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Life (Basel, Switzerland) Switzerland), 2022-05, Vol.12 (5), p.703
Main Authors: Mandujano, Angélica, Golubov, Melissa
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal models
Apoptosis
Autoimmune diseases
Disease
Fibroblasts
Fibrosis
Growth factors
Guinea pigs
Hypertension
Kidneys
Microvasculature
Mutation
nailfold capillaroscopy
Pathophysiology
Pulmonary arteries
Pulmonary fibrosis
Raynaud’s phenomenon
Review
Scleroderma
Systemic sclerosis
Vascular diseases
vasculopathy
Veins & arteries
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Summary:Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is an autoimmune disease with three pathogenic hallmarks, i.e., inflammation, vasculopathy, and fibrosis. A wide plethora of animal models have been developed to address the complex pathophysiology and for the development of possible anti-fibrotic treatments. However, no current model comprises all three pathological mechanisms of the disease. To highlight the lack of a complete model, a review of some of the most widely used animal models for SSc was performed. In addition, to date, no model has accomplished the recreation of primary or secondary Raynaud's phenomenon, a key feature in SSc. In humans, nailfold capillaroscopy (NFC) has been used to evaluate secondary Raynaud's phenomenon and microvasculature changes in SSc. Being a non-invasive technique, it is widely used both in clinical studies and as a tool for clinical evaluation. Because of this, its potential use in animal models has been neglected. We evaluated NFC in guinea pigs to investigate the possibility of applying this technique to study microcirculation in the nailfold of animal models and in the future, development of an animal model for Raynaud's phenomenon. The applications are not only to elucidate the pathophysiological mechanisms of vasculopathy but can also be used in the development of novel treatment options.
ISSN:2075-1729
2075-1729
DOI:10.3390/life12050703