Cardiovascular

The sum of the parts is greater than the whole: current research models for congenital heart disease

Posted on by yun
19
Jul

Several experimental systems have been used over the past five decades to address important questions in cardiac development and congenital heart disease. Here we discuss the strengths and limitations of available models, and how the use of different models synergistically is needed for a deeper understanding of these complex diseases.

Congenital heart defects are the most common birth defect, affecting approximately 1% of live births worldwide. Congenital heart disease (CHD) is heterogenous, ranging from isolated atrial septal defects to complex morphological derangements that lead to single ventricle physiology. Many cell culture and animal model systems — such as induced pluripotent stem cells, fly, frog, zebrafish, mouse and sheep models — have been developed to address important questions in the CHD field. Depending on the cardiac defect, some models help to further our understanding of the CHD mechanism, whereas other models provide little to no relevant information. In addition, some defects are so complex that it is almost impossible to use model organisms as a facsimile of the true disease process. In addition to living organisms, computational modeling with artificial intelligence has recently been implemented to help advance our understanding of the pathogenic events in CHD. Independently, each model provides some knowledge to help us clarify the onset and progression CHD, but in aggregate, an impressive amount of information has been gained to address the etiological basis for CHD. As the statistician George Box said, “All models are wrong but some are useful”.

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Fig. 1: Current methods to study CHD.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cardiovascular Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA

    Tahmina Samad & Sean M. Wu

  2. Department of Pediatrics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

    Tahmina Samad & Sean M. Wu

  3. Division of Cardiology, Department of Pediatrics, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA

    Tahmina Samad

  4. Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA

    Sean M. Wu

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  1. Tahmina Samad
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Samad, T., Wu, S.M. The sum of the parts is greater than the whole: current research models for congenital heart disease.
Nat Cardiovasc Res (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44161-023-00308-9

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  • Published: 19 July 2023

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s44161-023-00308-9

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