To observe the myocardial protective effects of sevoflurane pretreatment on ischemia-reperfusion injury, forty eight rabbits were divided into six groups randomly: control group, ischemia-preconditioning group, sevoflurane preconditioning group, ischemia preconditioning plus glyburide group, sevoflurane preconditioning plus glyburide group, glyburide group, each group subjected to three hours of left anterion descending coronary artery occlusion followed by three hours of reperfusion. Infarct size and area at risk were defined by staining. Infarct size [expressed as a percentage of the area at risk (IS:AR)] was (60.8 +/- 10.8)% in controls, and reduced to (33.1 +/- 4.9)% and (30.9 +/- 6.8)% respectively in ischemic preconditioning groups and sevoflurane preconditioning groups. Glyburide pretreatment eliminated the preconditioning effects of ischemia and sevoflurane [IS:AR = (59.3 +/- 11.2)% and (56.6 +/- 11.9)%, respectively; not significant]. Glyburide alone did not increase infarct size [IS:AR = (63.2 +/- 12.5)%, not significant]. It suggests that sevoflurane pretreatment protects the rabbit heart subjected to three hours of coronary occlusion from infarction.