The need for suitable interventions for progressive pulmonary vascular lesions has become a bottleneck and a consequent focus in the prevention and treatment of clinical pulmonary hypertension. Plexiform lesions in pulmonary arterioles are the typical pathological manifestation of irreversible abnormal pulmonary vascular remodeling and the criterion for stage Ⅳ pulmonary vascular remodeling. There is currently no effective clinical intervention for such pathophysiological lesions, highlighting the need for corresponding animal models. This review considers new progress in the stereology of plexiform lesions and highlights plexiform-lesion models in mice and rats induced by multifactor stimulation, such as two-hit models and genetic engineering. It also evaluates the characteristics and applications of these models to provide a reference for animal experimental studies and to clarify the mechanism of pulmonary hypertension with pulmonary vascular plexiform lesions.