The intestine is a central part of the immune system and nearly all immune-related disease models in mice show intestinal phenotypes and are hence suitable to investigate aspects of human inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). The histopathological features of 95 reported IBD mouse models are reviewed and their relation to histomorphological features of intestinal tissues derived from patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) or Crohn's disease (CD) are discussed. Predominant small-intestinal

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... logy resembling CD was reported only for 17% of the mouse models. An involvement of the small intestine occurred in 35% of all models. Pathologic changes restricted to the colon were reported in 65% of the mouse models; overall, the colon was involved in 83% of all models. Histomorphological hallmarks of intestinal inflammation illustrated from hematoxylin/eosin-stained sections of tissue samples from various IBD mouse models and from patients suffering from IBD highlighted similarities and differences between mouse and men. Also addressing differences in mouse and human immunology and anatomy, an initial histomorphological screening could not only test validity of a model and the experimental performance but clearly helps to choose the most relevant mouse model to approach a specific component of human IBD.