© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2017 55
J. Xiao (ed.), Exercise for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention and Treatment,
Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology 999,
DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-4307-9_4
Chapter 4
Acute and Chronic Exercise in Animal Models
Vu Thi Thu, Hyoung Kyu Kim, and Jin Han
Abstract Numerous animal cardiac exercise models using animal subjects have
been established to uncover the cardiovascular physiological mechanism of exercise
or to determine the effects of exercise on cardiovascular health and disease. In most
cases, animal-based cardiovascular exercise modalities include treadmill running,
swimming, and voluntary wheel running with a series of intensities, times, and
durations. Those used animals include small rodents (e.g., mice and rats) and large
animals (e.g., rabbits, dogs, goats, sheep, pigs, and horses). Depending on the
research goal, each experimental protocol should also describe whether its respec-
tive exercise treatment can produce the anticipated acute or chronic cardiovascular
adaptive response. In this chapter, we will briefly describe the most common kinds
of animal models of acute and chronic cardiovascular exercises that are currently
being conducted and are likely to be chosen in the near future. Strengths and weak-
ness of animal-based cardiac exercise modalities are also discussed.
Keywords Exercise • Animal models • Physiological mechanism
V.T. Thu
National Research Laboratory for Mitochondrial Signaling, Cardiovascular and Metabolic
Disease Center, Department of Health Sciences and Technology, BK21 Project Team,
Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, Inje University, Busan, South Korea
Faculty of Biology, National Key Laboratory of Enzyme and Protein Technology, VNU
University of Science, Hanoi, Vietnam
H.K. Kim • J. Han (*)
National Research Laboratory for Mitochondrial Signaling, Cardiovascular and Metabolic
Disease Center, Department of Health Sciences and Technology, BK21 Project Team,
Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, Inje University, Busan, South Korea
e-mail: [email protected]