Advances in mouse model for preterm birth

Preterm birth (PTB) is the leading cause of worldwide cause of death for children under 5-year old, at the same time increases the risk of preterm children's neurological development disorders and chronic diseases in adulthood, so explore the mechanisms of PTB is important for children's health. PTB is a multifactorial syndrome; the specific mechanism is unclear now. Due to limitations of ethics, experimental studies in humans PTB is difficult, so using animal models to validate clinical observation is very important. Since 1990s, the mice become the main animal model of PTB, several methods commonly used are reviewed here, including models of hormones, infection, inflammation, at the same time we compared their efficiency, advantages and disadvantages, to provide reference for the basic and clinical research on PTB. Key words: Preterm birth; Mouse model; Lipopolysaccharides (LPS); Inflammatory factors; RU486; Prostaglandin; Surfactant-associated protein A (SP-A)