Animal models for preclinical drug research on ulcerative colitis: A review

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) represents a chronic, relapsing, remitting, and inflammatory condition categorized into two forms – ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease. According to epidemiological data, the trend of IBD has been increasing in the world, including in India. The current management of UC does not aim at curing the patient from the illness but mainly at attenuating the symptoms and improving the daily life of the patient. Drugs such as sulfasalazine and corticosteroids are used to reduce inflammation, but they are associated with multiple side effects and the efficacy is also limited. Hence, there is an unmet need in exploring new drugs to manage UC in a more efficient and less harmful way. There are various animal models which have been used worldwide by researchers to assess new lead compounds before they can be tested in humans. Various types of models comprise of chemical models, bacterial models, immunity transfer models, and genetic models. In this review article, we try to give an overview of these animal models which can be used in drug research