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

Bellomo et al. Critical Care 2004 8:R204   doi:10.1186/cc2872