Modeling the Exposome in Murine Cardiovascular Disease

Our exposome, encompassing our environmental and lifestyle exposures across the life span, is a critical determinant of cardiovascular health. Clinical and epidemiological data demonstrate that sleep, stress, exercise, smoking, viral respiratory infections, and environmental pollution each modulate cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk, yet the pathobiological mechanisms underlying these associations remain poorly understood. Fundamental research into how the exposome and the physiological responses to it shape cardiovascular pathophysiology holds significant promise for expanding biologic understanding and identifying novel mechanisms with therapeutic potential. Essential to such investigations are murine CVD models subjected to translatable, precise, and tractable exposomic modification. Here, we review the experimental approaches for manipulating these select environmental and lifestyle factors in mice and highlight the emerging evidence for causal holistic mechanisms linking the exposome to experimental CVD.