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Updated: Jul 5, 2025
Preclinical Cardiac Electrophysiology Assessment by Dual Voltage and Calcium Optical Mapping of Human Organotypic Cardiac Slices
Published on: June 16, 2020
Preclinical Models of Cardiac Disease: A Comprehensive Overview for Clinical Scientists
Elisa C H van Doorn1,2, Jorik H Amesz1,2, Amir H Sadeghi1
1Translational Cardiothoracic Surgery Research Lab, Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Abstract:
For recent decades, cardiac diseases have been the leading cause of death and morbidity worldwide. Despite significant achievements in their management, profound understanding of disease progression is limited. The lack of biologically relevant and robust preclinical disease models that truly grasp the molecular underpinnings of cardiac disease and its pathophysiology attributes to this stagnation, as well as the insufficiency of platforms that effectively explore novel therapeutic avenues. The area of fundamental and translational cardiac research has therefore gained wide interest of scientists in the clinical field, while the landscape has rapidly evolved towards an elaborate array of research modalities, characterized by diverse and distinctive traits. As a consequence, current literature lacks an intelligible and complete overview aimed at clinical scientists that focuses on selecting the optimal platform for translational research questions. In this review, we present an elaborate overview of current in vitro, ex vivo, in vivo and in silico platforms that model cardiac health and disease, delineating their main benefits and drawbacks, innovative prospects, and foremost fields of application in the scope of clinical research incentives.
Insights
This review overviews cardiac disease models for clinical researchers. It details in vitro, ex vivo, in vivo, and in silico platforms to advance understanding and treatment of heart conditions.
Area of Science:
- Cardiovascular Research
- Translational Medicine
- Biomedical Engineering
Background:
- Cardiac diseases remain a leading global cause of death and morbidity.
- Limited understanding of disease progression hinders effective management and therapeutic development.
- A lack of robust preclinical models impedes research into cardiac pathophysiology.
Purpose of the Study:
- To provide a comprehensive overview of current research platforms for cardiac disease modeling.
- To guide clinical scientists in selecting optimal models for translational research.
- To address the need for an intelligible guide to diverse cardiac research modalities.
Main Methods:
- Review of current in vitro, ex vivo, in vivo, and in silico platforms.
- Delineation of benefits and drawbacks for each modeling approach.
- Analysis of innovative prospects and application fields for clinical research.
Main Results:
- Identification of diverse research modalities with distinct traits for cardiac modeling.
- Evaluation of the strengths and limitations of various preclinical models.
- Mapping of platform applications to specific translational research needs.
Conclusions:
- An informed selection of cardiac research platforms is crucial for advancing clinical science.
- Understanding the capabilities of different models accelerates the development of novel therapies.
- This review serves as a key resource for researchers in cardiovascular medicine.
