. Modification of alterations in cardiac function and sarcoplasmic reticulum by vanadate in ischemicreperfused rat hearts. J Appl Physiol 99: 999 -1005, 2005. First published May 5, 2005; doi:10.1152/japplphysiol.00234.2005.-To study the cardioprotective effects of vanadate on ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury, isolated rat hearts perfused at constant flow were subjected to global ischemia for 30 min followed by reperfusion for 30 min. In this experimental model, I/R markedly decreased ventricular developed pressure and increased end-diastolic pressure. Pretreatment of hearts with 4 M vanadate attenuated I/R-induced cardiac dysfunction. The reduction in sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) Ca 2ϩ uptake and Ca 2ϩ release, as well as SR protein contents for Ca 2ϩ -pump ATPase and Ca 2ϩ -release channel, was also prevented by vanadate. Pretreatment of hearts with an antioxidant mixture containing superoxide dismutase ϩ catalase exerted effects similar to those of vanadate in I/R hearts. Postischemic treatment of hearts with vanadate or superoxide dismutase ϩ catalase also had beneficial effects on I/R-induced changes in cardiac performance and SR function. Alterations in cardiac function and SR Ca 2ϩ transport due to an oxyradical-generating system (xanthine ϩ xanthine oxidase) or an oxidant (H2O2) were attenuated by treatment with vanadate. These results suggest that vanadate may exert beneficial effects on cardiac performance and SR function in I/R hearts because of its antioxidant action.ischemia-reperfusion; oxidative stress VANADATE HAS BEEN OBSERVED to produce beneficial effects on cardiac function in chronic diabetes (12,20,22). This action of vanadate on diabetic heart has been mainly attributed to its insulinomimetic property of promoting glucose uptake and oxidation in the cell (10, 27, 33) as a consequence of tyrosine kinase stimulation and/or inhibition of phosphotyrosine phosphatase activities (5, 34). Because diabetic cardiomyopathy has also been associated with oxidative stress (7), it is likely that attenuation of cardiac dysfunction in diabetes by vanadate may also be related to its antioxidant activity (17, 25). Although vanadate has been shown to scavenge oxyradicals generated by the xanthine plus xanthine oxidase (X ϩ XO) system (17), the antioxidant effect of vanadate remains to be clearly demonstrated. However, in a rat model of myocardial infarction, in which oxidative stress plays a critical role (19), the cytoprotective effect of vanadate has been shown to be associated with improvement in cardiac function, activation of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/protein kinase B (Akt), and inhibition of apoptosis by prevention of caspase-3 activation (30).Recently, vanadate at low concentrations (1-4 M) was found to attenuate cardiac dysfunction and changes in sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) Ca 2ϩ uptake and ryanodine receptor (RyR)-binding activities due to ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) in isolated rat hearts (29). However, the results showing the beneficial actions of vanadate in this study (29) were not conclusive,...