房颤动物模型及其在细胞和分子疗法研究中的应用进展

Use of animal models of atrial fibrillation in the study of cellular and molecular therapy

房颤是多原因引起的心律失常,可导致运输到各器官组织的血量不足,引发血栓、心衰或其他相关的复杂病情。房颤的动物模型分类根据其疾病的症状或诱发因素可分为电生理性模型、神经激素和血管生理失常模型和结构变异模型等。不断涌现的新技术如microRNA、CRISPR-Cas9体系等为构建房颤疾病动物模型提供了新的技术手段并引导其在疗法研究上的应用新方向。目前房颤治疗方法的研究已经从传统的侵入式电生理方法和抗心律失常药物的使用转向细胞和分子疗法,并在房颤分子机理、靶向治疗和药物筛选等方面都有重要的新进展。本文综述了几类常见的房颤动物模型的构建和特性及其在细胞和分子疗法研究中的应用进展。

Atrial fibrillation （ AF） is an abnormal heart rhythm characterised by rapid and irregular beating.It is caused by multiple factors and can lead to ischemia-associated thrombosis, heart failure and other complex symptoms. Based on the etiology and characteristics of AF, animal models have 3 main categories including electrical, neurohormonal or vessel-related, and structural remodeling models.New technologies such as microRNA knock-down/overexpression or CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing provide tools for constructing animal AF models and directions in the development of AF thera-peutic strategies.Currently these strategies have largely focused on the cellular and molecular therapeutics rather than tradi-tional invasive electrophysiological methods or antiarrhythmic drugs.With the aid of new tools, progress has been greatly made in a broad range of therapeutic research areas including molecular mechanisms, drug targeting and screening.This re-view summarizes the animal models of atrial fibrillation currently used in studies of the molecular and cellular therapeutics and notes their contributions to this research area.