In rats, exercise preconditioning (72% of VO2MAX) also significantly reduces myocardial ischemic injury through decreased serum cTnI levels, decreased infarction area, decreased myocardial apoptosis, increased Bcl-2 levels, decreased caspase-3 levels, and increased JAK2 and STAT3 phosphorylation. This evidence concerns the gene CASP3 and infarction.