Animal models that mimic cardiovascular diseases are indispensable tools for 
understanding the mechanisms underlying the diseases at the cellular and 
molecular level. This review focuses on various methods in preclinical research 
to create small animal models of cardiac diseases, such as myocardial 
infarction, dilated cardiomyopathy, heart failure, myocarditis and cardiac 
hypertrophy, and the related stem cell treatment for these diseases.