Abstract: Aim To study the effects of preconditioning with desflurane, sevoflurane and isoflurane on adenosine triphosphate (A TP)in anoxia-reoxygenation myocardial cells.Methods Rat ventricular myocytes, cultured for 4 ~ 5 days, were randomly allocated to five groups:Control group, anoxia-reoxygenation group and groups preconditioned with 1.5 MAC desflurane,sevoflurane or isoflurane follow inganoxia-reoxy genation.The content of intracellular ATP,the activities of lactic dehydrogenase(LDH)and creatine kinase(CK), and the cell viability were measured at the end of experiment.Results Preconditioning with 1.5 MAC desfllurane, sevoflurane or isoflurane significant lyattenuated the great reduction in ATP and cell viability and the increase of LDH and CK caused by anoxia-reoxygenation.There was a positive correlation ship between A TP and cell viability, and anegatiue correlation ship between LDH and CK (r was 0.83, -0.87 and -0.82 respectively, P<0.01).Conclusion sPreconditioning with desflurane, sevoflurane or isoflurane increases the preservation of ATP in anoxia-reoxygenation myocardial cells, which may be one of the mechanisms for myocardial protection.

Key words: volatile anesthetics, anoxia-reoxygenation, myocardial protection, adenosine triphosphate