Figure 1.

Experimental animal programmes. After the surgery, rats in S and MI groups will receive rest‐treatment until the end of the whole experiment. Rats in MIE, MIE + 2ME2 and MIE + PBS groups will experience one‐week surgery recovery and another week of adjustment exercise, followed by formal ET programme for next four weeks. S, sham‐operated group; MI, myocardial infarction group; MIE, MI‐with‐ET group; MIE + 2ME2, MIE group treated with HIF‐1α inhibitor 2‐methoxyestradiol (2ME2); MIE + PBS, MIE group treated with PBS