Table 1.

Quality score items.

Item	Score point allocation	Item	Score point allocation
Category 1: Reporting of study subject details and welfare		Category 2: Study planning quality
1. Animal protocol approved	Reported yes = 1/no = 0	1. Study hypothesis	Reported yes = 1/no = 0
2. Species	Reported yes = 1/no = 0	2. A priori endpoint definition	Reported yes = 1/no = 0
3. Sex and age	Reported yes = 1/no = 0	3. A priori sample size calculation	Reported yes = 1/no = 0
4. Pre-study health	Reported yes = 1/no = 0	4. Reference to previous studies	Reported yes = 1/no = 0
5. Comorbidities	Reported yes = 1/no = 0	5. Inclusion/exclusion criteria	Reported yes = 1/no = 0
6. Adequate medication	Reported yes = 1/no = 0	6. Effect size/treatment effect	Reported yes = 1/no = 0
Category 3: Internal study validity		Category 4: Outcome analysis and reporting
1. Blinding	Reported yes = 1/no = 0	1. Individual data points	Reportedyes = 1/no = 0
2. Randomization	Reported yes = 1/no = 0	2. Drop outs/excluded subjects	Reported yes = 1/no = 0
3. Allocation concealment	Reported yes = 1/no = 0	3. Appropriate statistical tests	Used yes = 1/no = 0
4. Physiological parameters	Measuring reported yes = 1/no = 0	4. Potential error sources	Reported yes = 1/no = 0
5. Analysis modalities	Appropriate modalities reporteda yes = 1/no = 0	5. Study/methodological limits	Reported yes = 1/no = 0
6. Infarct induction confirmation	Reported yes = 1/no = 0	6. Justified conclusion givenb	Provided yes = 1/no = 0

^aAnalysis modalities were considered appropriate when being sufficient to assess the respective research question or endpoint (see Supplementary Table 3 for details).

^bConclusion was considered justified when supported by correctly analyzed results.