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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2023 Jun 10.
Published in final edited form as: Circ Res. 2022 Jun 9;130(12):1926–1964. doi: 10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.122.320258

Table 3. Animal models of acquired arrhythmia disorders.

Representative list of animal models with reference to the method to their development. Abbreviations: Programmed Electrical Stimulation (PES), Sudden Cardiac Death (SCD), Ventricular Tachycardia (VT), Ventricular Fibrillation (VF), Atrial Fibrillation (AF) Torsades de Pointes (TdP), Diet-induced Obesity (DIO).

Animal Notes Ref.
Transverse Aortic Constriction
Mouse Severity of injury dependent on strain (BALB/c > C57BL/6 > 129S1/SvImJ) and substrain (C57BL/6Tac > C57BL/6NCrl > C57BL/6J). Model requires PES to induce in vivo arrhythmias 143, 146, 168
Rat Develop spontaneous arrhythmias with catecholamine challenge 466
Guinea Pig High mortality, develops catecholamine induced arrhythmias 467
Rabbit In vivo injury, but arrhythmia studies completed ex-vivo with Langendorff system 468
Pig Model of Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction, no study of arrhythmias 148
Ovine Model of Heart Failure with Reduced Ejection Fraction, no study of arrhythmias 182
Myocardial Ischemia
Mouse Single left coronary artery leads to variation in severity of injury. Model requires PES with catecholamine challenge to induced arrhythmias 194, 197, 199
Rat Requires PES and catecholamine challenge to induce ventricular arrhythmias reliably, but rare spontaneous arrhythmias 469
Rabbit PES done as ex-vivo in Langendorff system 470
Dog Atrial ischemia extensive studied 471
Pig High mortality due to poor collateral circulation, early spontaneous VT/VF during injury and late model of SCD 472
Sheep High mortality with spontaneous ventricular arrhythmia 473
AV node ablation
Rat High mortality, particularly in male rats. Requires specialized surgical equipment and skill 228
Rabbit Studied completed ex-vivo in Langendorff system 474
Dog Can be induced minimally invasively with low mortality 230, 231
Sheep Can be induced minimally invasively with low mortality, model of TdP 235
Chronic atrial pacing
Rat Model for AF 257
Rabbit In-vivo pacing, but PES studied completed ex-vivo with Langendorff system 252
Dog AF and spontaneous VT model, recapitulates tachycardia mediated cardiomyopathy 475
Pig AF model, recapitulates tachycardia mediated cardiomyopathy 476
Chronic ventricular pacing
Mouse Requires tethered or ex-vivo pacing 255
Rat Model tachycardia mediated cardiomyopathy with VF induction with rapid pacing 477, 478
Dog Recapitulates tachycardia mediated cardiomyopathy, model of spontaneous AF and VT 479
Sheep Recapitulates tachycardia mediated cardiomyopathy with reduced ejection fraction, no studies of arrhythmia 254
Pig 480
Inflammation
Mouse Strain specific susceptibility. C3H/He and DBA/2 mice susceptible to viral myocarditits while C57BL/6 are protected. BALB/c susceptible to immunogen induced myocarditis while C57BL/6 more resistive 284, 285
Rat Model of AF, but non-physiological induction of inflammation with talc 276
Guinea Pig 481
Dog 274
Sheep 275
Metabolic/Drug-Induced
Mouse Streptozotocin and DIO models well established, increased susceptibility to AF and VT with PES 482, 483
Rat Age-dependent fibrosis found in Fisher 344 rat strain, model of AF 484
Rabbit Established model of clofilium induced TdP 485