Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2018. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Dec 7, 2018; 24(45): 5063-5075
Published online Dec 7, 2018. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v24.i45.5063
Alcoholic liver disease: Utility of animal models
Arantza Lamas-Paz, Fengjie Hao, Leonard J Nelson, Maria Teresa Vázquez, Santiago Canals, Manuel Gómez del Moral, Eduardo Martínez-Naves, Yulia A Nevzorova, Francisco Javier Cubero
Arantza Lamas-Paz, Fengjie Hao, Eduardo Martínez-Naves, Francisco Javier Cubero, Department of Immunology, Ophthalmology and ORL, Complutense University School of Medicine, Madrid 28040, Spain
Arantza Lamas-Paz, Fengjie Hao, Eduardo Martínez-Naves, Yulia A Nevzovova, Francisco Javier Cubero, 12 de Octubre Health Research Institute (imas12), Madrid 28041, Spain
Leonard J Nelson, Institute for Bioengineering (IBioE), School of Engineering, Faraday Building, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3 JL, Scotland, United Kingdom
Maria Teresa Vázquez, Department of Human Anatomy and Embryology, Complutense University School of Medicine, Madrid 28040, Spain
Santiago Canals, Instituto de Neurociencias, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Universidad Miguel Hernández, San Juan de Alicante 03550, Spain
Manuel Gómez del Moral, Department of Cell Biology, Complutense University School of Medicine, Madrid 28040, Spain
Yulia A Nevzorova, Department of Genetics, Physiology and Microbiology, Faculty of Biology, Universidad Complutense, Madrid 28040, Spain
Yulia A Nevzorova, Department of Internal Medicine III, University Hospital RWTH Aachen, Aachen 52062, Germany
Author contributions: Lamas-Paz A and Hao F equally contributed to the manuscript writing and figure design; Nelson LJ, Vázquez MT, Canals S, Gómez del Moral M and Martínez-Naves E critiqued the manuscript, checked English language and provided fundamental guidance. Nevzorova YA and Cubero FJ outlined and corrected the review and provided guidance.
Supported by the MINECO Retos, No. SAF2016-78711 and SAF2017-87919R; EXOHEP-CM, No. S2017/BMD-3727; the AMMF Cholangiocarcinoma Charity, No. 2018/117; the COST Action, No. CA17112; Ramón y Cajal, No. RYC-2014-15242 and No. RYC-2015-17438; grant of ERAB, No. EA 14/18; Gilead Liver Research Scholar 2018, No. 44/2018; Ministerio de Sanidad, Servicios Sociales e Igualdad, No. 2017I065; and the UCM group “Lymphocyte Immunobiology”, No. 920631 (imas12-associated, Ref. IBL-6). German Research Foundation (SFB/TRR57/P04 and DFG NE 2128/2-1); Interdisciplinary Center for Clinical Research from the Faculty of Medicine at RWTH Aachen University (IZKF/E8-2).
Correspondence author to: Francisco Javier Cubero, BSc, MSc, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Immunology, Ophthalmology and ORL, Complutense University School of Medicine, c/Doctor Severo Ochoa 9, Madrid 28040, Spain. fcubero@ucm.es
Telephone: +34-91-3941385 Fax: +34-91-394164
Received: October 19, 2018
Peer-review started: October 19, 2018
First decision: November 1, 2018
Revised: November 8, 2018
Accepted: November 9, 2018
Article in press: November 9, 2018
Published online: December 7, 2018
Core Tip

Core tip: Alcoholism is now considered a global health issue. Although significant progress has been made in our understanding of the mechanisms and pathology of alcoholic liver disease (ALD), many features of ALD remain unidentified - requiring further investigation with improved animal models that more effectively emulate human ALD. In this Review, we provide an update on the prevalence, current and emerging experimental models, as well as the pathophysiology of ALD.