| Natural OSA animal model | Obese pigs, English bulldogs, Obese Zucker rats, New Zealand Obese mice | No intervention required; closer to actual conditions | Difficult to fully control variables, adjust research conditions, and cover features closely related to unique human lifestyles and environmental factors | Studying the physiological, genetic, metabolic impacts and the long-term effects of chronic OSA |
| Direct OSA animal model | OSA animal model with tracheal intubation | Consistently inducing the same degree of upper airway narrowing; easy to control the frequency and duration of apnea events | Technical difficulty and high cost; invasive models are prone to stress responses, and the airway obstruction plane differs from humans | Studying the acute physiological effects of short-term OSA; not suitable for large-scale studies |
| OSA animal model of airway collapse induced by negative pressure | Simple, stable, and repeatable operation; no need for complex surgeries or equipment | Unable to stably induce the same degree of upper airway collapse | Researching the chronic impacts of long-term OSA, such as the development of cardiovascular diseases |
| OSA animal model with filling material injection | Relatively simple operation; spontaneous chronic IH pathophysiological changes occur; imaging can be used as support | Animals show individual differences, poor repeatability; potential for injection site infections | Studying the effects of anatomical and functional changes in the upper airway on OSA |
| Chemically induced OSA animal model | Minimally invasive, few surgery-related complications; high repeatability | High technical requirements and complexity in operation; requiring precise and skilled experimental techniques and high-end experimental equipment | Researching the pathophysiological characteristics of OSA during specific sleep stages |
| Special mask ventilation blockage method, Head-enclosed ventilation blockage method, oral-nasal airbag ventilation blockage method | Controllable ventilation and occlusion times | High equipment requirements; difficult operation; insufficient precision in control; restricting animal free movement | Not suitable for more complex or larger-scale studies |
| Indirect OSA animal model | Chronic IH model | No anesthesia required; non-invasive; precise control of gas concentrations within the chamber; safe and repeatable modeling process | Unable to simulate upper airway narrowing or collapse; CO2 partial pressure changes do not match actual conditions | Suitable for mechanistic research, long-term studies, and large-scale physiological and pharmacological research |
| Sleep deprivation model | Ability to adjust the intensity and duration of sleep deprivation as needed; facilitating a repeatable process | Introduction of additional stress factors; possibility of leading to a certain degree of exercise deprivation effect, confinement, and fixation stress | Researching the impact of decreased sleep quality and disordered sleep structure on cognitive function, learning and memory, emotional regulation, and metabolic diseases in OSA, and the treatment effects of improving sleep quality on these diseases |