Abstract:

Staphylococcus aureus is a highly prevalent Gram-positive pathogenic bacterium in clinical settings, capable of causing skin and soft tissue infections, pneumonia, sepsis, endocarditis and other illnesses. The emergence and spread of drug-resistant phenotypes such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) have posed formidable challenges to clinical treatment. Animal models serve as vital tools for dissecting its pathogenic and resistance mechanisms, as well as evaluating novel anti-infective strategies. Four well-established and widely adopted models for S. aureus infection research include skin and soft tissue infection models, osteomyelitis and implant-associated infection models, pneumonia models, and infective endocarditis models. This review systematically elaborates on animal selection criteria, mainstream modeling protocols, application scenarios, and the respective advantages and limitations of these four model types. Common experimental animals encompass mice, rats, rabbits, pigs and so forth. Skin and soft tissue infection models feature rapid construction and low costs yet fail to recapitulate complex chronic lesions. Osteomyelitis and implant-associated infection models are primarily utilized to mimic bacterial biofilm formation and chronic infection, while pneumonia models are applied to investigate acute lung injury and assess drug efficacy. Infective endocarditis models are suitable for exploring vegetation formation and therapeutic effects against deep-seated infection. Nevertheless, current models share inherent drawbacks: there are innate discrepancies in immune system composition and response between laboratory animals and humans, and most models adopt high bacterial inoculation doses with short experimental cycles, making full recapitulation of clinical chronic infection unachievable. Future improvements can be realized by developing humanized animal models and organ-on-a-chip in vitro systems to bridge interspecies gaps, incorporating comorbidities to boost clinical relevance, and implementing multimodal dynamic assessment alongside ethical alternative approaches. This review provides systematic theoretical references for the rational selection, optimization and application of animal models of S. aureus infection, so as to facilitate anti-infective research progress.

Key words: Staphylococcus aureus, Animal model, Pathogenic mechanism, Drug resistance, Prevention and control strategies