Fig. 1. Schematic illustration of the experimental protocol. All hearts were subjected to 30 min of global ischemia followed by 120 min of reperfusion. Anesthetic postconditioning was elicited by administration of sevoflurane (SEVO; 2% or 1 minimum alveolar concentration) for 2 min at the onset of reperfusion (postconditioning [POST]). Aprotinin (APRO; 250 kallikrein inhibitor units/ml) was administered for 5 min at the onset of reperfusion in POST (POST + APRO) and control (CTL + APRO) groups. In SEVO + APRO (throughout), both sevoflurane (2%) and aprotinin were given before ischemia and throughout the ischemia–reperfusion periods. Tissue samples were obtained at 10 min after reperfusion. Nitric oxide measurements were performed for the first 30 min after reperfusion. l-NAME = N -nitro-l-arginine methylester.