Journal: Frontiers in Pharmacology

Article Title: Forced intensity-controlled endurance training on a small-animal treadmill machine inducing murine cardiac hypertrophy: insights and comparison to voluntary running models

doi: 10.3389/fphar.2025.1682751

Figure Lengend Snippet: Study design and morphometric analysis of sedentary vs training mice. (A) Schematic showing the treadmill running protocol and study design. The scheme includes acclimatization before the training protocol. At week 0 (W0), week 2 (W2), week 4 (W4), week 8 (W8), and week 12 (W12), the training and sedentary mice were sacrificed and analyzed, including ECG-gated PET/CT, histology, morphometrics, and RNA sequencing. (B) Mice body weight was recorded on the corresponding weeks (0, 2, 4, 8, and 12). Sedentary control mice served as controls. Data illustrated as mean ± SD. N = 10 mice in each group, except for 12 weeks (n = 5 mice per group). Black dots represent sedentary control; training animals are shown in red. Two-way ANOVA with Turkey’s multiple comparison tests was used. ns = not significant, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001. (C) Representative gross heart in an 8-week training group (right-hand side) and their matched sedentary control (left-hand side). The extraction was performed carefully to include all four heart chambers and exclude pericardial tissue. (D) Heart weight on 0-, 2-, 4-, 8-, and 12-week training animals and their matched sedentary control. Data illustrated as mean ± SD. N = 10 mice in each group, except for 12 weeks (n = 5 mice per group). Black dots represent sedentary control; training animals are shown in red. Unpaired two-tailed Student’s t-test was used. ns = not significant, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001. (E) Heart weight/tibia length ratio (g/mm) across different training time points (0, 2, 4, 8, and 12 weeks). Data illustrated as mean ± SD. N = 10 mice in each group, except for 12 weeks (n = 5 mice per group). Black dots represent sedentary control; training animals are shown in red. Unpaired two-tailed Student’s t-test was used. ns = not significant, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001.

Article Snippet: The animals remained anesthetized, and the ECG activity was carefully recorded in real-time throughout the entire 30-min scan duration using modified Kendall neonatal ECG electrodes (Cardinal Health, Norderstedt, Germany), which were placed on animal’s both forepaws and left hind paw.

Techniques: Positron Emission Tomography-Computed Tomography, RNA Sequencing, Control, Comparison, Extraction, Two Tailed Test

Journal: Frontiers in Pharmacology

Article Title: Forced intensity-controlled endurance training on a small-animal treadmill machine inducing murine cardiac hypertrophy: insights and comparison to voluntary running models

doi: 10.3389/fphar.2025.1682751

Figure Lengend Snippet: Gated PET/CT assessment of cardiac volume and function (A) Representatives of different views (coronal, horizontal long axis (HLA), and vertical long axis (VLA)) of the left ventricle during end-diastole (ED; left side) and end-systole (ES; right side). (B) Three-dimensional reconstruction of ECG-gated PET/CT images showing the left ventricle in end-diastole (left) and end-systole (right). (C) Evaluation of EDV, ESV, SV, and EF between training and sedentary groups at different time points. (D) Heart rate/minute in training animals compared to their matched sedentary controls. (E) Cardiac output is calculated from SV and heart rate/minute. Data illustrated as mean ± SD. N = 10 mice in each group, except for 12 weeks (n = 5 mice per group). Black dots represent sedentary control; training animals are shown in red. Two-way ANOVA with Turkey’s multiple comparison tests was used. ns = not significant, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001.

Article Snippet: The animals remained anesthetized, and the ECG activity was carefully recorded in real-time throughout the entire 30-min scan duration using modified Kendall neonatal ECG electrodes (Cardinal Health, Norderstedt, Germany), which were placed on animal’s both forepaws and left hind paw.

Techniques: Positron Emission Tomography-Computed Tomography, Control, Comparison