Myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury is a clinical challenge in the treatment of acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Phosphodiesterase 4B (PDE4B) expression is upregulated in AMI tissues. Thus, the present study aimed to investigate the role of PDE4B in myocardial I/R injury. H9c2 cardiomyocytes were subjected to hypoxia/reoxygenation (H/R) to establish an in vitro myocardial I/R model. PDE4B expression was detected via reverse transcription-quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) and western blotting before and after transfection with PDE4B interference plasmids in H/R-stimulated H9c2 cells. Cell viability and cytotoxicity were assessed using the Cell Counting Kit-8 and lactate dehydrogenase assays, respectively. Furthermore, oxidative stress was assessed using malondialdehyde, superoxide dismutase and glutathione/glutathione oxidized ratio detection kits. Cell apoptosis was detected via a TUNEL assay and western blotting. c-Jun dimerization protein 2 (JDP2) expression was also detected via RT-qPCR and western blotting. The dual luciferase reporter and chromatin immunoprecipitation assays were performed to verify the interaction between JDP2 and PDE4B. Following co-transfection with PDE4B interference plasmid and JDP2 overexpression plasmid, cell viability, cytotoxicity, oxidative stress and cell apoptosis were assessed. The results demonstrated that PDE4B knockdown reversed H/R-induced loss of viability and cytotoxicity of H9c2 cells. H/R-induced oxidative stress and cardiomyocyte apoptosis were also alleviated by PDE4B knockdown. In addition, the transcription factor JDP2 was expressed at high levels in H/R-stimulated H9c2 cells, and JDP2 overexpression upregulated PDE4B expression. Notably, JDP2 overexpression partly reversed the ameliorative effect of PDE4B knockdown on H/R-induced H9c2 injury. Taken together, the results of the present study suggested that JDP2-activated PDE4B contributed to H/R-induced H9c2 cell injury.