ABSTRACT
Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 314 Animal Models of Dermatophytosis .............................................................................................. 314 Animal Models of Subcutaneous Mycoses .................................................................................... 317
Chromomycosis ......................................................................................................................... 317 Lobomycosis ............................................................................................................................. 318 Mycetoma .................................................................................................................................. 318 Rhinosporidiosis ....................................................................................................................... 318 Sporotrichosis ............................................................................................................................ 318
Animal Models of Mycoses due to Obligate Pathogenic Fungi .................................................... 319 Blastomycosis ............................................................................................................................ 319 Coccidioidomycosis .................................................................................................................. 320 Histoplasmosis .......................................................................................................................... 320 Paracoccidioidomycosis ............................................................................................................ 321
Animal Models of Mycoses due to Opportunistic Pathogenic Fungi ............................................ 321 Aspergillosis .............................................................................................................................. 322 Candidosis ................................................................................................................................. 324 Cryptococcosis .......................................................................................................................... 326 Scedosporiosis ........................................................................................................................... 329 Zygomycosis .............................................................................................................................. 329 Pneumocystosis ......................................................................................................................... 330
Animal Models of Miscellaneous Mycoses and Algoses .............................................................. 331 Miscellaneous Fungi ................................................................................................................. 331 Algae ......................................................................................................................................... 331
Application of Modi—ed Animal Models in Mycology ................................................................. 332 Evaluation of Antifungal Agents in Animal Models ..................................................................... 334 Animal Models as Mycodiagnostic Tools...................................................................................... 338 Pathogenesis and Virulence Studies in Animal Mycology Models ............................................... 338 Alternative Animal Mycology Models .......................................................................................... 341 Concluding Remarks ...................................................................................................................... 341 References ...................................................................................................................................... 341
INTRODUCTION
The development and application of experimental animal models in mycology are indispensable and used extensively in the study of a wide range of aspects, including pathogenesis, pathology, virulence, transformative properties, defense mechanisms (immunity), therapy, and prophylaxis. For diagnostic purposes, animal models are important for the isolation and identi—cation of some fungi from both clinical and environmental materials and in the standardization of immunodiagnostic assays. Although some fungi are almost host speci—c-such as the anthropophilic dermatophytes that only very rarely infect animals; Histoplasma capsulatum var. farciminosum, which naturally is restricted to equines; and Pneumocystis carinii (Pneumocystis jirovecii in humans)—fungi are generally not host speci—c, in contrast to many other invasive microorganisms. Therefore, a variety of different animal species are suitable for infection with most of the fungi important in both human and veterinary medicine.
