Animal models for SARS‐CoV‐2 infection and pathology

Abstract

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the etiology of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Current variants including Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and Lambda increase the capacity of infection and transmission of SARS-CoV-2, which might disable the in-used therapies and vaccines. The COVID-19 has now put an enormous strain on health care system all over the world. Therefore, the development of animal models that can capture characteristics and immune responses observed in COVID-19 patients is urgently needed. Appropriate models could accelerate the testing of therapeutic drugs and vaccines against SARS-CoV-2. In this review, we aim to summarize the current animal models for SARS-CoV-2 infection, including mice, hamsters, nonhuman primates, and ferrets, and discuss the details of transmission, pathology, and immunology induced by SARS-CoV-2 in these animal models. We hope this could throw light to the increased usefulness in fundamental studies of COVID-19 and the preclinical analysis of vaccines and therapeutic agents.

A live attenuated virus-based intranasal COVID-19 vaccine provides rapid, prolonged, and broad protection against SARS-CoV-2

“…For understanding the protective effects provided by intranasal immunization, we validated the efficacy of intranasal immunization with dNS1-RBDin the interanimal transmission model in golden Syrian hamsters to mimic the predominant natural route of SARS-CoV-2 infection at 1 d after single-dose immunization and 3 or further more months after two doses of dNS1-RBD (prime and boost regimen with a 14-d interval). The model is preferred because it has been demonstrated to be sensitive to SARS-CoV-2 infection and associated COVID-19-like lung damage and can support efficient viral transmission from inoculated hamsters to naïve hamsters by direct contact and via aerosols [29] , [30] , [31] . Hamsters vaccinated with dNS1-RBD and CA04-dNS1 were infected through cohousing with donor hamsters infected by the Beta variant for rapid protective effects evaluation ( Fig.…”

Histopathology and localization of SARS-CoV-2 and its host cell entry receptor ACE2 in tissues from naturally infected US-farmed mink (Neovison vison)

“…Of the most commonly utilized animal model species, DAD has been achieved in transgenic mice expressing human ACE2 receptor, some Syrian hamsters, and few African green monkeys, whereas murine models using mouse-adapted virus, and most hamsters, ferrets, and macaques develop only mild disease without prominent DAD. 7,8,37,73,74 On the contrary, the authors have also commonly seen human cases with only minimal findings of pulmonary congestion and edema that test cRT-PCR positive on FFPE (unpublished data), as also occurred in some mink herein. These findings support the use of mink in animal model development, especially with respect to recapitulating DAD in fatal human COVID-19, and also have important implications for SARS-CoV-2 surveillance on mink farms; that is, even asymptomatic animals or those without prominent viral lesions in necropsy tissues may harbor virus and be potential sources of exposure to other animals and humans on the farm.…”

SARS‐CoV‐2 and its variants of concern including Omicron: A never ending pandemic

“…Moreover, suitable and appropriate models are crucial to accelerate the testing of therapeutic drugs and vaccines. In this context, Bi et al ( 2021 ) have summarized the details of transmission, pathology, and immunology induced by SARS‐CoV‐2 in various reported animal models. Mouse model is commonly used to understand the viral pathogenesis for different diseases due to its small size and low cost (Mohapatra et al, 2021f ).…”