Because of the similarities of progressive anti-thy glomerulonephritis to human IgA nephropathy and other mesangial proliferative glomerulonephritis, animal models of progressive anti-thy1 glomerulonephritis are used to study the mechanism and new treatment approaches of chronic kidney diseases. The establishment methods, pathogenetic mechanism and treatment of progressive anti-thy1 glomerulonephritis models are summarized and discussed in this review.