What are the best practices for animal models of exercise training? Associate Editor Mario Delmar (New York University) kickstarts a conversation with expert physiologists David Poole (Kansas State University), Timothy Musch (Kansas State University), Steven Copp (Kansas State University), Michael Sturek (Indiana University), Donal O’Leary (Wayne State University), and our own Editor in Chief Irv Zucker (University of Nebraska Medical Center) about the new Guidelines in Cardiovascular Research article by Poole et al. This landmark Guidelines article is designed to provide researchers with comprehensive information as they navigate selecting the most appropriate animal species and exercise paradigm to use in their exercise studies. As Tim Musch points out, “Exercise tests are many times the best strategy for determining the presence and severity of disease.” As the authors explain, animal models offer researchers the ability to control for disease severity and duration, confounding drug treatments, invasive procedures, as well as acute and chronic exercise interventions. We cover rat, mouse, dog, pig, and rabbit exercise training, and discuss everything from which incentive (dark chocolate or cocoa puffs?) rats prefer to thoroughbred racehorses! Listen now.

 

David C. Poole, Steven W. Copp, Trenton D. Colburn, Jesse C. Craig, David L. Allen, Michael Sturek, Donal S. O’Leary, Irving H. Zucker, Timothy I. Musch Guidelines for animal exercise and training protocols for cardiovascular studies Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol, published April 21, 2020. DOI: doi.org/10.1152/ajpheart.00697.2019