TABLE 1.
Animal models permissive for SARS-CoV-2 infections
| Models | Virus strain | Route of Inoculation | Dose of virus | Clinical signs | Viral RNA | Histopathology | References | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mouse | Transgenic hACE2 mice | BetaCoV/Wuhan/IVDC-HB-01/2020|EPI_ISL_402119 | Intranasal | 10^5 TCID50 | Weight loss and interstitial pneumonia | Lungs tissue | Focal to multifocal dark red discoloration in certain lung lobes | Denison et al., (2011) |
| Transgenic hACE2 mice | SARS-CoV-2 | Intranasal | 3 × 10^4 TCID50/ml | No clinical signs until day-3 post-infection | Lungs tissue | Slight changes were observed in the lung tissues, multifocal lesions, alveolar walls thickening and monocyte and lymphocyte infiltration |
Doremalen et al., (2020) | |
| BALB/c and outbred CDI. | SARS-CoV-2 strain nCoV-WA1–2020 (MN985325.1) | Intranasal | 2.6 × 10^6 TCID50/ml | No clinical signs in immunized animals | N/A | Rathnasinghe et al., (2020) | ||
| K18-hACE2 transgenic model | SARS-CoV-2, isolate USA-WA1/2020 | Intranasal | No clinical signs | Kim et al., (2020) | ||||
| BALB/c Mice | Mouse-adapted 2019-nCoV/USA-WA1/2020 | Intranasal | 1 × 10^4 PFU | Nasal congestion and difficulty in breathing | Lungs tissue | N/A | Gu et al., (2020) | |
| BALB/c Mice | Mouse-adapted-BetaCov/human/CHN/Beijing_IME-BJ05/2020 | Intranasal | 1.6 × 10^4 PFU | N/A | Lungs, trachea, heart, liver, spleen, brain and faeces. | Denatured and collapsed epithelial cells, thickened alveolar septa, alveolar damage, focal exudation and haemorrhage and activated inflammatory cell infiltration | Dinnon et al., (2020) | |
| BALB/c Mice | Mouse-adapted infectious clone of SARS-CoV-2 | Intranasal | 10^5 PFU | No clinical signs | Lungs | Inflammation of airways | Wang et al., (2020) | |
| BALB/c Mice and C57BL/6J | Mouse-adapted SARS-CoV-2 HRB26M | Intranasal | 10^4.4 pFU | N/A | Nasal turbinates and lungs | Loss of cilia in the nasal tissues, infiltrations of monocytes, congestion of intra-alveolar septa. | Gao et al., (2020) | |
| Hamster | Syrian/Golden Hamster | Isolated from the nasopharyngeal aspirate specimen of a laboratory-confirmed | Intranasal | 1 × 10^5 PFU | Weight loss, ruffled furs, stressed breathing | Lungs tissue and intestines | Patches of focal inflammation and pleural invaginations in lungs | Chan et al., (2020) |
| COVID-19 patient in Hong Kong | ||||||||
| Syrian/Golden Hamster | BetaCoV/Hong Kong/VM20001061/2020 virus | Intranasal | 8 × 10^4 TCID50 | N/A | Nasal washes, lungs, faecal samples | Presence of inflammatory cells and consolidation in the lungs | Sia et al., (2020) | |
| Syrian/Golden Hamster | SARS-CoV-2/UT-NCGM02/Human/2020/Tokyo (UT-NCGM02) | Intranasal and ocular | 10^5.6 PFU or with 10^3 PFU | Mild to no weight loss | Nasal turbinates, trachea, lungs and brain | Ground-glass opacity and consolidation of lungs under microcomputed tomographic imaging | Imai et al., (2020) | |
| Ferret | Normal Ferrets | SARS-CoV-2/F13/environment/2020/Wuhan (F13-E) or SARS-CoV-2/CTan/human/2020/Wuhan (CTan-H) | Intranasal | 10^5 PFU | Weight loss was not reported. | Nasal turbinate, tonsils and soft palate | N/A | Shi et al., (2020) |
| Normal Ferrets | NMC-nCoV02 | Intranasal | 10^5.5TCID50 | Elevated body temperatures, body weight loss, cough | Blood, nasal washes, saliva, urine and faeces | Infiltration as well as cell debris in the alveolar wall, bronchial epithelium and bronchial lumen | Kim et al., (2020) | |
| Normal Ferrets | SARS-CoV-2 strain from a German traveller returning from China | Intranasal | 6×10^5 TCID50 | N/A | Throat, nasal and rectal swab | N/A | Mathilde et al., (2020) | |
| Normal Ferrets | Intranasal | Schlottau et al., 2020 | ||||||
| Normal Ferrets | Victoria/1/2020 SARS-CoV-2 | Three different titres; high (5 × 10^6 PFU/ml), medium (5 × 10^4 PFU/ml) and low dose (5 × 102 PFU/ml | Reduced activity, elevated body temperature, | Nasal wash, throat swab, rectal swabs, bronchoalveolar lavage | Multifocal bronchopneumonia, infiltration of inflammatory cells in lungs, thickening of alveolar septa. | Kathryn et al., 2020) | ||
| Non-Human Primate | Cynomolgus macaques | SARS-CoV-2 strain from a German traveller returning from China | Combined intratracheal and intranasal | N/A | Little or no symptoms with serous nasal discharge only | Nasal and throat swabs | Consolidation of pulmonary tissues with oedema, fibrin | Rockx et al., (2020) |
| Rhesus macaques | Purified inactivated SARS-CoV-2 strains from the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid samples | PiCoVacc, vaccine candidate, through IM route SARS-CoV-2 CN1 challenged by Intratracheal route | 10^6 TCID50 | N/A | Controlled animals showed viral genomic RNA in the pharynx, crissum and lung | Very mild in lungs | Moderna Inc., (2020) | |
| Rhesus macaques | BetaCoV/Wuhan/IVDC-HB-01/2020|EPI_ISL_402119 | Intratracheal | 10^6 TCID50 | Weight loss, fever | Nose, pharynx, and crissum, anal swabs | Oedema filled alveolar cavities, filled with inflammatory cells | Yu et al., (2020) | |
| Rhesus macaques | SARS-CoV-2 strain nCoV-WA1–2020 | Intranasal, oral, ocular and intratracheal routes | 2.6×10^6 TCID50 | Weight loss, ARDS | Nasal and broncholavage | Mild-to-moderate interstitial pneumonia | Williamson et al., (2020) | |
| Rhesus macaques | SARS-CoV-2/WH-09/human/2020/CHN | Intratracheal | 10^6 TCID50 | Weight loss, reduced appetite, increased respiration rate and hunched posture | Nasal, pharyngeal and anal swabs. tissues of nose, gut, spinal cord, heart, bladder | Thickened alveolar septa, accumulation of alveolar macrophages in the alveoli, degeneration of the alveolar epithelia, and infiltration of inflammatory cells | Linlin et al., (2020) | |
| Rhesus macaques | SARS-CoV-2 isolate nCoV-WA1–2020 | Intranasal, oral, ocular and intratracheal routes | 2.6 × 10^6 TCID50 | reduced appetite, hunched posture, pale appearance and dehydration | nose, throat and rectal swabs | Multifocal interstitial pneumonia, oedematous alveoli, pneumocyte hyperplasia | Vincent et al., (2020) | |
| Rhesus macaques | SARS-CoV-2 USA-WA1/2020 | Intranasal and intratracheal | 1.1 × 10^6 PFU (n = 3), 1.1 × 10^5 PFU (n = 3) PFU or 1.1 × 10^4 PFU (n = 3) | Loss of appetite | Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) and nasal swabs | Mononuclear infiltrates and multifocal regions of inflammation in alveoli | Chandrashekar et al., (2020) | |
| Rhesus macaques | SARS-CoV-2 | Intratracheal and intranasal | 1.2×10^8 VP (1.1×10^4PFU) SARS-CoV-2 | N/A | Nasal swabs and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) | N/A | Yu et al., (2020) | |
| Chinese-origin rhesus macaques | SARS-CoV-2/WH-09/human/2020/CHN | Intratracheal | 1 × 10^6 TCID50 | Weight loss but not elevated rectal temperature., reduced appetite and increased in respiration | Nasal swabs and pharyngeal swabs | Interstitial pneumonia, widened alveolar septa, increased alveolar macrophages and degenerated alveolar epithelium. | Deng et al., (2020) | |
| Chinese-origin rhesus macaques | SARS-CoV-2 (strain 2019-nCoV-WIV04) | Intratracheal | 2 × 10^4 TCID50 | N/A | Pharyngeal swabs, bronchus and lungs | Severe interstitial pneumonia, expansion of alveolar septum, infiltration of monocytes and lymphocytes. | Feng et al., (2020) |