Table 4

A comparison of leading animal models for the study of acute renal failure
Model	Simple	Reproducible	Complete control over external factors	Graded response easily achieved	Tubular	Medullary	Inflammator y¹	Functional injury and pathology correlate	Matches human pathology	Matches clinical scenario	Clinical Relevance

Warm ischaemia²	+	+		+	+	+	+	+			±
Isolated perfused kidney		+	+	+	+	±
Radio contrast	+				+	+	+	+	+	+	+
Combined insults					+	+	+	±	±	+	+
Gentamicin	+	+			±				±	+	+
Cisplatin³	+	+			+				+	+	±
Glycerol⁴	+	+			+		+				+
Myoglobin/haemaglobin	+										+
Endotoxin	+	+		+			+
Bacterial infusion (iv)	+						+				+
Bacterial infusion (ip)	+						+				+
Caecal perforation	+						+			+	+

In the first column a list of recognized models used for the study of acute renal failure is presented. Then, in each column, an evaluation is presented regarding whether a given model contains certain features. '+' Indicates the presence of a given feature; '±' indicates only the partial presence of that feature; and the absence of any sign indicates the lack of such a feature. For example, warm ischemia is simple but does not match the dominant clinical scenario and is of limited clinical relevance. ¹Reproduces the type of injury seen in humans. ²Cold ischaemia is more clinically relevant to renal transplantation, but it is less well characterized. ³Clinical relevance is limited because less toxic alternatives are now available. ⁴Resembles clinical rhabdomyolysis.
Bellomo et al. Critical Care 2004 8:R204 doi:10.1186/cc2872