“…This is exemplified in animal models, which are devoid of confounding risk factors for cardiovascular disease, where exercise has consistently been shown to improve coronary vascular reactivity, decrease myocardial stunning, and reduce arrhythmias in hearts subjected to I/R injury (26). Moreover, exercise confers sustainable protection against myocardial infarction following both long-term and short-term training regimens (9) and improves survival after an ischemic event in humans (37,50). A review of the literature indicates that reductions in cell death following exercise range from 4 to 75% depending on the ischemic model studied (permanent ischemia or I/R) and the training strategy employed (1, 6 -8, 13, 16, 27, 35, 47, 71, 72, 74, 75, 77) (Table 1).…”