Animal models of scleroderma.

Although no single animal model of systemic sclerosis (SSc) faithfully reproduces all features of the human disease, certain animal models that display some of the features of SSc are potentially useful as they may be helpful in gaining a better understanding of the pathogenesis of SSc as well as developing novel therapeutic interventions. This chapter gives the detailed description of the two most useful animal models of SSc: bleomycin-induced skin fibrosis and the sclerodermatous graft-vs-host disease in mice. It provides the methodology of the induction as well as the repertoire of the different approaches that can be used to investigate the skin fibrosis in these models, including histopathology, immunohistochemistry, dermal thickness, hydroxyproline content of the skin, and analysis of dermal cells by flow cytometry.