From bedside to bench and back again: research issues in animal models of human disease

• Published in: Biological research for nursing Vol. 8; no. 1; p. 78
• Main Authors: Tkacs, Nancy C, Thompson, Hilaire J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01.07.2006
• Subjects: Animal Experimentation - ethics; Animal Experimentation - standards; Animals; Autonomic Nervous System Diseases - etiology; Awareness; Clinical Nursing Research - ethics; Clinical Nursing Research - methods; Clinical Nursing Research - standards; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 - complications; Disease Models, Animal; Humans; Hypoglycemia - etiology; Predictive Value of Tests; Reproducibility of Results; Research Design - standards; Rodentia
• ISSN: 1099-8004
• DOI: 10.1177/1099800406289717

To improve outcomes for patients with many serious clinical problems, multifactorial research approaches by nurse scientists, including the use of animal models, are necessary. Animal models serve as analogies for clinical problems seen in humans and must meet certain criteria, including validity and reliability, to be useful in moving research efforts forward. This article describes research considerations in the development of rodent models. As the standard of diabetes care evolves to emphasize intensive insulin therapy, rates of severe hypoglycemia are increasing among patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus. A consequence of this change in clinical practice is an increase in rates of two hypoglycemia-related diabetes complications: hypoglycemia-associated autonomic failure (HAAF) and resulting hypoglycemia unawareness. Work on an animal model of HAAF is in an early developmental stage, with several labs reporting different approaches to model this complication of type 1 diabetes mellitus. This emerging model serves as an example illustrating how evaluation of validity and reliability is critically important at each stage of developing and testing animal models to support inquiry into human disease.