Redox à la carte: Novel chemogenetic models of heart failure

Many current animal models of heart failure are hampered by intrinsic methodological complexities, while other models yield only a subtle cardiac phenotype even after prolonged in vivo treatments. A new 'chemogenetic' animal model of heart failure reproduces a critical characteristic shared by many disease states that lead to heart failure in humans: an increase in redox stress in the heart. This 'chemogenetic' approach exploits a recombinant yeast enzyme that can be dynamically and specifically activated in vivo to generate the ROS hydrogen peroxide (H₂ O₂ ) in cardiac myocytes. Redox stress can be rapidly, selectively and reversibly manipulated by chemogenetic generation of ROS in cardiac myocytes, yielding a new model of dilated cardiomyopathy. Treatment of animals with the angiotensin receptor antagonist valsartan promotes recovery of ventricular function and resolution of adverse cardiac remodelling. This mini-review discusses in vivo chemogenetic approaches to manipulate and analyse oxidative stress in the heart.