Table 1.

Rodent models of experimental endometriosis.

Model	Features	Benefits	Limitations	Examples
Immunocompromised Models
Athymic Nude Spontaneous mutation of Foxn1 (Chromosome 11)	Lack T cells, compromised B cell function	Accepts human xenografts; useful for early lesion establishment studies	Age-related compensatory immunity	[36, 41]
Congenic SCID Spontaneous autosomal recessive mutation of Prkdc (DNA repair enzyme) (Chromosome 16)	Lack B and T cells	Accepts human xenografts; fertility preserved; useful for early lesion establishment studies	Age-related compensatory immunity; high susceptibility to opportunistic infections	[45]
Rag2γ(c) targeted double mutation obtained by crossing gamma c knockout and Rag2 deficient mice (C57Bl/6 background)	Lack B, T and NK cells	Lack of age-related compensatory immunity allows for longer duration of studies; ability to graft human immune cells allows for natural experimental model	Animals with more aggressive behavior	[38, 46, 47]
Autologous Models
Rat surgical model	Uterine tissues sewn to arteries of small intestine	Animal maintains normal immune function	Require animal undergo surgery	[48-50]
Injection Models	Minced uterine tissues are injected IP or SC	Peritoneal injections more closely mimic retrograde menstruation; either donor or recipient can be treated allowing for large permutation of experimental setups	Ectopic tissue can be difficult to locate; variable success rates in disease establishment	[51]
C57bl/6 Green Fluorescent Protein	Transgenic mice that express GFP are used as endometrial donors	Lesions visualized by fluorescence		[52]
Transgenic knock-out models -PRKO -ERKO	Mice transgenic for loss of steroid receptor expression.	Role of specific genes can be examined		[51, 53]
EDC-Exposure Models -TCDD -BPA	Female mice exhibit uterine progesterone resistance; subfertility Ectopic disease	Useful to examine the uterine phenotype associated with endometriosis	Unidentified effects of toxicant exposure may additionally impact disease processes.	[54-57]
Multigenerational Models
Rat Surgical Model Toxicant Exposed Model	Daughters fertility impacted Daughters and sons fertility impacted	Useful for epigenetic studies and comorbidity analysis Useful for epigenetic studies and comorbidity analysis		[58] [54, 59]