[New animal models for drug discovery research: focus on cardiovascular diseases]

Development of novel drugs relies on research to discover new drugs. Testing and evaluating new drugs on human subjects are usually impossible because of ethical concerns. Therefore, for drug discovery research, it is essential to establish animal models of human diseases. Numerous animal models have been developed and used in drug discovery and evaluation studies. Such animal models have had important roles in developing new drugs as well as understanding the etiologies of diseases. In the field of cardiovascular drugs, several interesting animal models are currently in use. These include, transgenic mice carrying both human renin and human angiotensinogen genes, Watanabe's heritable hyperlipidemic rabbits, rats with pulmonary hypertension induced by monocrotaline, myocardial infarction model, cardial hypertrophy model and photochemical thrombosis models. It is envisaged that for drug discovery and development, the search for more physiological animal models will continue in the future.