A model is proposed for the partial depletion of the adenine nucleotide pool in the ischemic perfused rat heart which involves seven enzymes: adenylate cyclase, 3',5'-cyclic AMP phosphodiesterase, 5'-nucleotidase, adenosine kinase, adenosine deaminase, purine nucleoside phosphorylase, and inorganic pyrophosphatase. The computer implementation of this model is in terms of rate laws, several of which were obtained by a systematic least-squares fitting procedure. Depletion of the adenine nucleotide pool is initiated by the release of endogenous noradrenaline into the interstitial fluid, which results from a fall in tissue PO2, and the subsequent activation of adenylate cyclase. In this model the substrate for 5'-nucleotidase is a membrane-bound AMP pool formed by hydrolysis of extracellular fluid and functions as a vasodilator; excess adenosine is incorporated into the tissue by a "permease" with Michaelis-Menten kinetics and converted to AMP, inosine, and hypoxanthine. Alternative mechanisms, such as the deamination of AMP by adenylate deaminase and conversion of AMP to adenine by AMP pyrophosphorylase, were rejected primarily on qualitative biochemical grounds.