Abstract:

Spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage (sICH), the most prevalent and lethal subtype of stroke, is characterized by spontaneous hemorrhage in the brain parenchyma. Presently, there are no effective methods for preventing and treating sICH. The existing sICH animal models can be broadly categorized into three classes: (1) induced intracerebral hemorrhage models, including autologous blood injection model, collagenase injection model, microballoon inflation model, and hyperglycemia-induced sICH hematoma expansion model; (2) spontaneous hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage models mainly include stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRsp) and stroke-prone renovascular hypertensive rats (RHRsp); (3) gene-modified models encompassing transgenic hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage, transgenic cerebral amyloid angiopathy, arteriovenous malformation-related, cerebral cavernous malformation-related and collagen-related genetically modified animal models for sICH. These models contribute not only to unraveling the pathogenesis of sICH and exploring preventive or therapeutic interventions, but also serve as invaluable tools for conducting preclinical drug trials to advance novel treatments. This guide comprehensively reviews sICH pathogenesis, delineates the superiority and inferiority of different species of modeling animals, explains the modeling principles and techniques for various sICH animal models, elucidates the technical details of animal model production, summarizes the pathophysiological mechanism simulated by the models and their clinical relevance, outlines the neurobehavioral evaluation methodologies for sICH animal models, compares the advantages and disadvantages of various models, and suggests their applicable research areas. Additionally, it underscores critical considerations in the design of preclinical drug trials for sICH.

Key words: Spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage, Stroke, Animal models, Preclinical drug trials