In our research, we use mostly laboratory rats and mice including suitable transgenic models. Cardiac tolerance to injury caused by temporal coronary artery occlusion and reperfusion is studied in anesthetized open-chest animals, isolated perfused hearts are used to assess tolerance to injury due to global or regional ischemia/reperfusion, and isolated ventricular myocytes serve to analyze the effects of simulated anoxia/reoxygenation. As major manifestations of injury we evaluate the size of myocardial infarction, the incidence and severity of ventricular arrhythmias, the postischemic recovery of contractile function, and the viability of myocytes. Echocardiography and catheterization techniques are used to assess heart functions and hemodynamics. To study cardioprotective mechanisms we employ suitable pharmacological tools and biochemical analyses.