[Animal Modeling - Efficacy Evaluation] - Animal Model of Tinea Infection

  Due to their susceptibility to dermatophytosis, guinea pigs often develop spontaneous dermatophytosis, making them an ideal animal model for studying dermatophytosis; In addition, there have been reports of rabbit models of dermatophyton.

  When creating animal models of ringworm disease, the author inoculated red ringworm fungus isolated from clinical samples into the backs of guinea pigs and rabbits. The clinical manifestations and histopathology after vaccination support the infection of Trichophyton rubrum, therefore, guinea pigs and rabbits are useful animal models of Trichophyton rubrum.

  In disease research, this animal model is often used to evaluate the efficacy of various antifungal drugs. When evaluating the treatment of skin fungal infections with antifungal drugs, researchers inoculated 1 × 10 7th power fungal cells onto the friction site of guinea pig skin. And compare the therapeutic effects of different drugs by evaluating the growth of fungi on animal skin after oral or topical administration. Scientists found that KP-103 had better therapeutic effects than other antifungal drugs compared to the control group when studying the treatment of dermatophytosis and candidiasis using the aforementioned guinea pig model; Research has shown that KP-103 has good pharmacokinetics in skin tissue, and its antibacterial effect is not affected by hair. It is speculated that its good therapeutic effect is not only related to its antifungal antibacterial ability, but also to its retention in skin tissue. On this basis, Japanese scientists studied the antifungal effect of KP-103 on interdigital fungi by removing residual antifungal drugs from skin specimens and tissues. After 5 days of treatment, the fungal culture positivity rate was significantly lower than that of Neconazole and Ranoconazole, thus confirming that KP-103 is an efficient antifungal agent; Later, it was confirmed that it was effective in treating tinea corporis in guinea pig models and showed a dose-dependent effect. Scientists also obtained a tinea pedis model by inoculating guinea pig foot pads with Trichophyton rubrum, and then divided the animals into a treatment group and a control group. The treatment group applied NND-502 ointment locally, and at 1 week, 6 weeks, and 16 weeks after treatment, plantar skin samples were examined. It was found that all control groups were cultured positive, while the treatment group was negative. Therefore, NND-502 was confirmed to be an effective local anti ringworm drug.