Table 5.
Characteristics of included animal exercise training studies (n = 12).
| Author (year) | Design | Cohort | Duration | Exercise Training (FITT) |
| Aerobic exercise training | ||||
| [79] Souza-Rabbo et al. (2008) |
non- RCT |
32 rats (male) MCT + ET, MCT + SED, Sedentary |
5 weeks |
treadmill running (5/7 days; 0.6–0.9 km/h; 50 min) |
| [80] Handoko et al. (2009) | RCT |
56 rats (male) stable PH (MCT) + ET, progressive PH (MCT) + ET, stable PH (MCT) + SED, progressive PH (MCT) + SED, ET, Sedentary |
4 weeks |
treadmill running (5/7 days; 13.3 m/min; 30 min) |
| [81] Colombo et al. (2013) |
non- RCT |
60 rats (male) histological analysis (n = 24), divided in four groups (n = 36): MCT + ET, MCT + SED, ET, Sedentary |
3 weeks |
treadmill running (5/7 days; 0.9 km/h equals 60% VO2 peak; 60 min) |
| [82] Colombo et al. (2015) |
non- RCT |
30 rats (male) MCT + ET, MCT + SED, ET, Sedentary |
3 weeks | same as [80] Colombo et al. (2013) |
| [83] Moreira-Gonçalves et al. (2015) | RCT |
180 rats (male) MCT + early ET, MCT + late ET, MCT +S ED, early ET, late ET, sedentary |
4 weeks (early ET) or 2 weeks (late ET) |
treadmill running (5/7 days; 30 m/min ↘ 25 m/min (in the last week); 60 min) |
| [84] Colombo et al. (2016) |
non- RCT |
32 rats (male) MCT + ET, MCT + SED, ET, Sedentary |
3 weeks | same as [80] Colombo et al. (2013) |
| [85] Nogueira-Ferreira et al. (2016) | RCT |
50 rats (male) ET (n = 25), sedentary (n = 25) |
4 weeks |
treadmill running (5/7 days; 25 m/min; 60 min) |
| [86] Pacagnelli et al. (2016) | RCT |
32 rats (male) MCT + ET, MCT + SED, ET, Sedentary |
11 weeks |
treadmill running (5/7 days; 0.9 km/h; 45 min) |
| [74] Enache et al. (2017) | RCT |
40 rats (male) MCT + ET (n = 13), MCT + SED (n = 13), ET (n = 7), sedentary (n = 7) |
4 weeks |
eccentric treadmill running (5/7 days; 65% VO2 peak; 33 min; 15° slope) |
| [45] Zimmer et al. (2017) |
non- RCT |
24 rats (male) MCT + ET (n = 6), MCT + sedentary (n = 7), ET (n = 5), sedentary (n = 6) |
3 weeks |
treadmill running (5/7 days; 0.9 km/h; 60 min) |
| Author (year) | Design | Cohort | Duration | Exercise training (FITT) |
| High intensity interval training | ||||
| [42] Brown et al. (2017) |
non- RCT |
42 rats (male) MCT + continuous ET (n = 7), MCT + HIIT (n = 8), MCT + sedentary (n = 10), continuous ET (n = 5), HIIT (n = 6), sedentary (n = 6) |
6 weeks |
interval treadmill running (5/7 days; 5 × 5 min cycles of 2 min 85–90% VO2R and 3 min 30% VO2R) continuous treadmill running (5/7 days; 50% VO2R; 60 min) |
| Author (year) | Design | Cohort | Duration | Exercise training (FITT) |
| Voluntary exercise training | ||||
| [75] Natali et al. (2015) |
non- RCT |
36 rats (male) MCT + ET (n = 6), MCT + sedentary (n = 6), ET (n = 6), sedentary (n = 6), MCT + ½ ET (n = 6) |
4 weeks |
running wheel (voluntary running) |
ET, exercise training; FITT, frequency, intensity, type and time of exercise; HIIT, high intensity interval training; HR, heart rate; MCT, monocrotaline; PH, pulmonary hypertension; RCT, randomized controlled trial; SED, sedentary; VO2, volume of oxygen uptake; VO2R, VO2 reserve.