Heart rate variability measures.

<p>A. Poincare plots for sample CTRL and LT animals (comparison of ST group to CTRL was not significant, not shown). B. HRV parameters for the 3 groups relative to their normalized value at week 1 in %.</p

Aerobic test protocol at weeks 1and 8 of the study.

<p>Aerobic test protocol at weeks 1and 8 of the study.</p

The effect of exercise on the in vivo (aerobic exercise capacity) and in vitro (cardiac output, systolic and diastolic function) measurements.

<p>CTRL, control group; ST, short term trained group; LT, long term trained group.</p

Induction of VF and exercise intensity.

<p>A. Current intensity and S₂ interval for VF induction in individual experiments for the 3 groups. B. Threshold current for VF induction in the studied groups (p<0.05 for ST compared to LT and CTRL, p<0.0001 for LT compared to CTRL). C. The relationship between the exercise intensity (the different groups) and the distribution of stimulus coupling interval S₂ that induces VF in the studied group (ST and LT compared to CTRL).</p

Welch power spectra.

<p>A. Welch averaged 10 consecutive power spectra of single animals from the CTRL (left), ST (middle) and LT (right) groups. B. Averaged power spectra of 1-second long pseudo-ECG segments for 93 VF events lasting more than 2 seconds in the CTRL (red) group and for 29 VF events lasting more than 2 seconds in the ST (blue) group (This analysis was not performed for the LT group because only 5 VF events in 4/7 animals were detected in that group).</p

Probability and duration of VT/VF episodes.

<p>A. Probability for VT and VF induction as percentage number of events per 1000 stimuli. B. Duration of contiguous episodes of VF in the 3 groups (p<0.05 for ST to CTRL and p<0.01 for LT to CTRL).</p