Animal Models for Gut Microbiome Research

The gut microbiota refers to the trillions of microorganisms that live in the human digestive tract and play a crucial role in both physiological and pathological processes. The use of live microbes as a therapeutic treatment is gaining more and more attention in the medical field. However, determining the most appropriate preclinical animal models for studying the microbiome and its impact on human pathophysiology and response to pharmacological intervention is a significant challenge. Therefore, it is important to select animal models that accurately recapitulate the human microbiota for a greater understanding of the role of microorganisms in human health and disease. Here we review the usefulness as well as weakness of several commonly used animal models for studying the microbiota associated with human health and disease so that researchers can effectively design and select the most reproducible models with high clinical relevance.