Application of in vitro and in vivo models in the study of food allergy

Abstract Food allergy is one of the most important food safety problems that has attracted increasing attention. The food allergy experimental models provide not only the accurate allergen detection and evaluation methods but also the powerful approaches for mechanism investigations. In this paper, we reviewed the common food allergy cell models including mast cell, basophil granulocyte and basophil, as well as the animal models of BALB/c mouse, C3H/HeJ mouse, and BN rat. We also introduced zebrafish, a promising model organism for investigating immunity though lacking direct applications in food allergy to date, and focused on traumatic inflammation, bacterial infection and viral infection models. In addition, we also summarized the clinical diagnostic research methods for food allergy. The elucidation of these topics will help researchers to understand the characteristics and mechanisms of various models and thus select the proper models for particular study, so as to support further investigations of food allergy.