Experimental models of spontaneous ventricular arrhythmias and of sudden cardiac death.

Sudden cardiac death defined as natural death from cardiac causes occurring within one hour of the onset of acute symptoms is one of the most significant non-injury causes of death in the adult population of industrialised countries. The understanding of the mechanisms leading to sudden cardiac death is so far limited. Recently, a number of experimental animal models with high incidence of sudden cardiac death were developed and are intensively studied to get new insights into the sudden cardiac death mechanisms. In this review the animal models of sudden cardiac death are summarized and their principal properties shortly described.