International Journal of Pharmacology (IJP) is published by IMR Press from Volume 21 Issue 4 (2025). Previous articles were published by another publisher under the CC-BY licence, and they are hosted by IMR Press on imrpress.com as a courtesy and upon agreement.
Evaluation of Various Experimental Models in Antihypertensive Drug Development: Recent Update
1 Department of Biomedical Science, College of Veterinary Medicine, King Faisal University, Saudi Arabia
2 Discipline of Pharmacology, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Gelugor 11800, Penang, Malaysia
3 Department of Medical Education, School of Medical and Life Sciences, Sunway University, Subang Jaya 47500, Selangor, Malaysia
4 Sunway Microbiome Centre, School of Medical and Life Sciences, Sunway University, Subang Jaya 47500, Selangor, Malaysia
5 Department of Physiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Khartoum, 13314, Shambat, Sudan
6 Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Kafrelsheikh University, Kafrelsheikh 33516, Egypt
7 Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Bahri, Khartoum, Sudan
8 Department of Physiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Benha University, Benha 13736, Egypt
Abstract
Hypertension is either primary or secondary hypertension. One of the main causes of cardiovascular disease is hypertension, as secondary hypertension brings illnesses, including kidney disease, cardiac disease, endocrine dysfunction and other underlying medical disorders. Several animal models are being used to investigate the pathophysiology and therapies of hypertension. The major goal of the review is to elaborate on the various experimental animal models used for investigating, understanding hypertension and studying therapies for hypertension. Currently, the most often animals used to study hypertension are rat’s sensitive to Dahl salt and rats with hypertension caused by Ang II, DOCA salt rats, L-NAME-induced hypertensive rats, transgenic rats and fructose fed/fructose-induced hypertensive rats. In conclusion, the animal models used in study of development of hypertension are considered as splendid tool for studying the pathophysiology of hypertension. Animal models are also used as first approach to investigate a potential new therapy and to evaluate the existed drug. Despite the fact that the animal models are distinctive from the human and often characterized by some limitations such as animal size, cost and availability. The researchers are still rely on animal models, as they can be readily tested, autopsied and biopsied easily. The genetic and environmental background of animal models are already known. However, all researchers must obey the ethical limits when using animal models in an experiment. The use of animal model is only allowed when they are necessary and prevent causing pain, distress and lasting harm.
Keywords
- Hypertension
- DOCA models
- Dahl sensitive models
- renal models
- hypertensive rats
