Abstract
Osteoarthritis (OA) is a chronic degenerative disease of joints. This disease most commonly affects people over the age of forty.
It is a debilitating illness causing pain and immense discomfort to the affected individual. OA is a heterogenic disease with very complex pathophysiological mechanisms and the causes of OA are still unknown.
There is currently no animal model of this disease that reflects all aspects of OA in man. Therefore, OA belongs to pathological conditions, for them many models of different types have been created.
In this review article, the animal models are classified systematically, and their main advantages and disadvantages are listed for the most common ones. An important part of the described models is the onset, development, transmission and perception of pain and the possibilities of its measurement.
The text also mentions the aspect of harm to the animals, which is not yet common in articles of this type.