Evaluation of drug efficacy by using animal models or in vitro systems

FEMS Immunol Med Microbiol. 1998 Sep;22(1-2):173-9. doi: 10.1111/j.1574-695X.1998.tb01203.x.

Abstract

The efficacy of most therapeutic and prophylactic protocols against Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia used in human patients has been tested in animal models, especially in the corticosteroid-treated rat. The advantages and drawbacks of this model have been examined in brief in Chapter 1 of this section. More recently, the nude rat, intratracheally inoculated with Pneumocystis, was used to test new anti-microbian molecules for their anti-Pneumocystis activity. In vitro systems, co-cultures of Pneumocystis with feeder cells as well as axenic cultures, were also used many times for drug screening. In this paper, the most used in vivo or in vitro drug screening systems are described. Moreover, as immunocompromised individuals, AIDS patients, especially, are often infected simultaneously by several infectious agents, a recent co-infection model is described.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Antifungal Agents / therapeutic use*
  • Disease Models, Animal
  • Drug Administration Routes
  • Drug Evaluation, Preclinical / methods*
  • Evaluation Studies as Topic
  • Humans
  • In Vitro Techniques
  • Mycobacterium Infections / complications
  • Pneumonia, Pneumocystis / complications
  • Pneumonia, Pneumocystis / drug therapy*
  • Toxoplasmosis / complications

Substances

  • Antifungal Agents