**4. Model Systems to Study DCM and DMD Cardiomyopathy**

To clarify the mechanisms responsible for the physiologic features of DCM and DMD cardiomyopathy, and to establish novel, preventative, and innovative therapies, several experimental animal and cell models of DCM and DMD cardiomyopathy have been developed and investigated. Most models recapitulate several clinical features of DCM in humans, typically exhibiting dilation of the left or both ventricles, severe impairment of systolic and diastolic left ventricle function, and thinning of the left ventricle wall [91]. This section will highlight both animal and cell models that have been developed to study DCM as an independent disease and models that study it as a pathology of DMD. An overview of this section is summarized in Table 1.


**Table 1.** Summary of model systems to study dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) and Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD)-cardiomyopathy.


#### **Table 1.** *Cont*.

MLP: muscle LIM-protein; ECG: electrocardiogram; iPSCs-CMs: human induced pluripotent stem cells-derived *cardiac myocytes.*
