Table 3 Principles that should guide the development and study of animal models of acute renal failure
General principles that must be applied to design of animal model | Additional issues that must be considered to optimize the model |
Proper randomization of animals | Models should be chosen on the basis of their relevance to the clinical situation, and not merely by the reproducibility of the model |
Similar baseline characteristics of the experimental groups | Physiological parameters known to affect kidney function or susceptibility to injury should be controlled for, measured and reported (temperature, blood pressure, fluid status, type of anaesthesia, etc.) |
Concurrent appropriate controls | Appropriate preparation of tissue for valid pathological interpretation |
Blinded assessment of outcome | Fundamental requirements for a model should include morphology, haemodynamics and function |
Consideration and reporting of mortality | Outcomes should be measures at multiple time points |
Numbers of animals studied should be appropriate to reproducibility of outcome measure | Noninvasive biomarkers for renal parenchymal cell injury should be developed |
Models should be created that explicitly address comorbidities that are believed to predispose to acute renal failure and outcome in humans | |
Experimental observations should be reproduced in other laboratories before they are generally accepted |