{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.014215418261344996, 'fraction_numerical': 0.0032804811372334607, 'mean_word_length': 5.421052631578948, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Animal models for pathogenic Neisseria species

The development and use of various animal models in the early 1970s helped renew interest in the immunobiology of Neisseria gonorrhoeae and N. meningitidis. This research also provoked controversy concerning which infection model provided the most useful information. Certainly, the human host or isolated organ cultures provided a relevant test system for neisserial infections; however, these models were not accessible to many research groups, and, therefore, alternative models were necessary for preliminary studies. If some discretion is exercised in selecting an appropriate species and in interpreting the results, much useful information can be obtained by studying these sometimes contrived model systems. The question regarding what constitutes a valid model depends largely on the types of experiments being performed. For cell attachment studies, human tissues appear to be essential because of the species-specific nature of this interaction (27). Human organ cultures that may be ideal for studying receptor-mediated attachment may be less suitable for studying the role of humoral factors in pathogenesis because some celland complement-mediated systems are not intact. On the other hand, certain animals whose immune systems function in many respects like those of humans can be used to study the complex interaction of the multiple cellular and humoral factors that are involved in the inflammatory response, even though these animals may lack the species-dependent receptors found in tissues of human origin. In this article I will review some of the attributes and deficiencies inherent in the various animal species that have been used as models of infection and point out the aspects of their comparative immunology that are important in interpreting results.