Animal disease models articles from across Nature Portfolio

Here, using human liver chimeric mice, the authors describe perturbation of the diurnal transcriptome and epigenome of human hepatocytes during hepatitis C virus infection, affecting pathways mediating metabolic alterations, fibrosis, and cancer, and further show that the pathways remain affected in patients with advanced liver disease.

Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) characterizes a spectrum of liver disorders initiated by hepatic lipid accumulation associated with metabolic syndrome. Here, the authors generate a mouse model that recapitulates the main histopathologic, transcriptomics, and metabolic alterations observed in MASLD patients.

This study reports the use of fluorescently labeled collagen hybridizing peptides to directly image collagen remodeling and monitor fibrosis in two mouse models of ocular neovascularization.

Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is caused by a defect in the SMN1 gene, leading to muscle weakness and motor neuron loss. Here, the authors show that combining CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing with gene supplementation improves survival and motor function in SMA mice, highlighting a potential new treatment avenue.

This study on the genetic diversity of 1,845 rhesus macaques improves genetic variation interpretation and identifies macaque models for inherited human retinal and neurodevelopment diseases.

Allaband et al. analyse how timing of sample collection affects the conclusions that can be drawn from microbiome studies, which has implications for study design.

A naturally short-lived fish opens the gates for rapid exploration of vertebrate aging.

The EQIPD framework for rigor in animal experiments aims to unify current recommendations based on evidence behind their rationale and was prospectively tested for feasibility in multicenter animal experiments.