Key result
Programmed electrical stimulation widely induces AF in mice but lacks standardization and requires individualized protocols.
Why the study?
A lack of standardized methodology for programmed electrical stimulation in mouse models of atrial fibrillation has led to arbitrary protocol selection.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
This review provides an overview of programmed electrical stimulation protocols for inducing atrial fibrillation in mouse models, emphasizing the need for individualized protocols and careful exclusion of artifactual induction.
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common human arrhythmia and is associated with increased risk of stroke, dementia, heart failure, and death. Among several animal models that have been used to investigate the molecular determinants of AF, mouse models have become the most prevalent due to low cost, ease of genetic manipulation, and similarity to human disease. Programmed electrical stimulation (PES) using intracardiac or transesophageal atrial pacing is used to induce AF as most mouse models do not develop spontaneous AF. However, there is a lack of standardized methodology resulting in numerous PES protocols in the literature that differ with respect to multiple parameters, including pacing protocol and duration, stimulus amplitude, pulse width, and even the definition of AF. Given this complexity, the selection of the appropriate atrial pacing protocol for a specific model has been arbitrary. Herein we review the development of intracardiac and transesophageal PES, including commonly used protocols, selected experimental models, and advantages and disadvantages of both techniques. We also emphasize detection of artifactual AF induction due to unintended parasympathetic stimulation, which should be excluded from results. We recommend that the optimal pacing protocol to elicit an AF phenotype should be individualized to the specific model of genetic or acquired risk factors, with an analysis using several definitions of AF as an endpoint.
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Murphy et al. (2023) conducted a review in Atrial fibrillation. Programmed electrical stimulation (PES) was evaluated. Programmed electrical stimulation using intracardiac or transesophageal pacing is widely used to induce atrial fibrillation in mouse models, though protocols lack standardization and require individualization.
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