类风湿关节炎(RA)是一种影响多关节的自身免疫性疾病,其特征是关节的进行性炎症和破坏、畸形、活动能力丧失、甚至永久性残疾.尽管目前对类风湿关节炎所涉及的细胞和分子机制已有较为深入的了解,但仍无完全治愈RA的药物与疗法.长期以来为更好地阐明RA的发病机制和开发新的药物治疗方法,主要依赖于动物模型研究.因此,本文对各类RA实验模型的特点、面临的挑战及尚未解决的问题进行了全面综述和讨论,为中医药基础研究中RA实验模型的合理选择提供依据和参考.“,”Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a common autoimmune disease characterized by progressive joint inflammation and destruction, deformity, loss of mobility, and permanent disability. Although the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in RA are un-derstood in detail, no drugs or therapies can completely cure RA. Many long-term efforts have been directed towards a better un-derstanding of RA pathogenesis and the development of new classes of therapeutics. Thus, the ongoing elucidation of patho-genic events underlying RA mostly relies on studies of animal models. Herein, we comprehensively review and discuss the characteristics, challenges, and unresolved of issues of various experimental models of RA to provide a basis and reference for the rational selection of experimental RA models for basic invest-igations into traditional Chinese medicine (TCM).