Anoxic perfusion prior to sustained ischemia (anoxic preperfusion), reportedly improves postischemic functional recovery of the heart, but its mechanism has not been well understood. The present study aimed to characterize the cardioprotective effects of anoxic preperfusion and its relationship to extracellular Ca++ levels. Following 10 min of aerobic perfusion, isolated rat hearts were assigned to a 10 min aerobic perfusion or to a 10 min anoxic perfusion. The hearts were then subjected to 30 min of global ischemia and 30 min of aerobic reperfusion. When the perfusate-free Ca++ concentration was 2.0 mM, postischemic recovery of left ventricular developed pressure was significantly improved by anoxic preperfusion (91.9 +/- 2.9% of baseline value vs. 50.5 +/- 12.9% after 30 min reperfusion in the controls). However, the improvement of postischemic ventricular function by anoxic preperfusion was abolished when perfusate Ca++ was reduced to 1.0 mM and the contractile function was rather suppressed during early reperfusion by anoxic preperfusion when the Ca++ level was 0.7 mM (87.5 +/- 11.8% vs. 115.6 +/- 13.9% after 10 min of reperfusion). On the other hand, lactate accumulation during the global ischemia was significantly less in anoxic preperfused hearts compared with untreated hearts both when perfusate Ca++ was 0.7 mM (61.3 +/- 5.1 vs. 85.9 +/- 6.8 mumol/g dry) and when it was 2.0 mM (43.8 +/- 2.0 vs. 140.3 +/- 14.1 mumol/g dry). The amount of myoglobin released after global ischemia was not different between untreated and anoxic preperfused hearts regardless of the perfusate Ca++ level. The results suggest that anoxic preperfusion does not reduce ischemic myocardial necrosis, but it attenuates myocardial stunning. That effect of anoxic preperfusion on the stunning is dependent on the extracellular Ca++ level and is not totally explained by suppression of ischemia-induced lactate accumulation.