Animal models of psychogenic cardiovascular disorders

Close causative relationship between psychological stresses and cardiovascular morbidity is now well documented. Research on humans has been attempting to unravel the significance of this association by investigating psychological and social characteristics in relation to cardiovascular health. However, this research is limited by the difficulty to control and standardize for the individual social history, the impossibility to apply psychosocial stress stimuli for mere experimental purposes, as well as the long time span of cardiovascular pathogenesis in humans. Animal studies controlling for social environment and adverse social episodes allow for partially overcoming these limitations. The aim of this review is to provide an up-to-date reference of the experimental evidence so far collected on the link between psychosocial factors and cardiovascular dysfunction in rodents, with special emphasis on modeling stress-induced sudden cardiac death, cardiac arrhythmias, stress cardiomyopathy, and psychogenic hypertension and with focusing on acute and chronic psychological and social stresses, aggressiveness, and negative mood states as causative factors.