Cardiac arrhythmias: from (transgenic) mice to men

Transgenic and gene-targeted mice now are frequently used to study cardiac arrhythmias due to the ease with which the mouse genome can be manipulated. Marked electrophysiologic differences are present between the mouse and human heart, however, and the utility of the mouse as a model for arrhythmias and sudden death remains controversial. Tachyarrhythmias, bradyarrhythmias, and ECG in the mouse need to be interpreted with extreme care and without preconceptions based on our experience with humans. Despite its limitations, the mouse can provide a powerful tool to further our understanding of basic mechanisms that underlie human cardiac electrophysiology.