Advancing Myocarditis Research: Evaluating Animal Models for Enhanced Pathophysiological Insights

Purpose of review: This review aims to assess the current landscape of animal models used in myocarditis research, with a focus on understanding their utility in uncovering the pathophysiology of the disease. The goal is to evaluate these models' strengths and weaknesses and propose optimizations to make them more relevant and reliable for both mechanistic studies and therapeutic interventions in myocarditis.

Recent findings: Recent studies have primarily utilized animal models, particularly viral and autoimmune myocarditis models, to study disease mechanisms. Coxsackievirus remains the most common virus used in viral myocarditis models, offering high success rates but limited applicability to human cases due to differences in infection patterns. Autoimmune myocarditis models, often involving humanized mice, have made strides in mimicking human immune responses but still face challenges in accuracy and clinical relevance. COVID-19 has introduced new avenues for research, especially concerning vaccine-induced myocarditis, although findings remain preliminary. Animal models remain crucial for myocarditis research, but each comes with distinct challenges. Viral models excel in success rate but suffer from partial relevance to human conditions. Autoimmune models are useful in immunological studies, though costly and less replicable. Vaccine-associated models are closely related to modern clinical conditions, but lack theoretical support and therefore lack reliability. Optimizing these models could improve our understanding of myocarditis and lead to more effective treatments. Future research should aim to refine these models to better simulate human conditions and enhance their clinical applicability, ultimately advancing the diagnosis and treatment of myocarditis.