*2.2. Treatment*

When the mice were 12 months old, they were randomly allotted to: (1) sedentary + control diet (Sed-Con), (2) sedentary + control diet supplemented with vitamins E and C (Sed-EC), (3) exercise + control diet (Ex-Con), (4) exercise + control diet supplemented with vitamins E and C (Ex-EC). The diets were obtained from TestDiet (St Louis, MO, USA). The control diet (LabDiet® R&M 5LG6 4F, #5S84) was modified by adding ascorbic acid (1.65 mg/g diet) and α-tocopheryl acetate (1.12 IU/g diet) (#5SH0). Using treadmills, the mice were progressively introduced to a moderate exercise regimen (AccuPacer Treadmill, Omnitech Electronics, Inc., Columbus, OH, USA). The training was increased in

time and speed to reach a maximal exercise of 1 h over 12 days (6, 8, 10, and 12 m/min for 5 min each, and then at 14 m/min for 40 min). Compliance was achieved by a transient 0.29 mA electric foot shock to the feet. The number of shocks were tallied, and the paired control mice received the same number of shocks/training day.
