ObjectiveTo observe the protective effect of atorvastatin against myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury in rats and to discuss the possible mechanism. MethodsThirty-six healthy male Sprague-Dawley rats were evenly randomized into three groups: sham-operated (S) group, ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) group, and atorvastatin pretreatment (AT+I/R) group. The myocardial ischemia-reperfusion model was established by ligating the left anterior descending of coronary artery. The infarcted area was evaluated by Evans blue and triphenyltetrazolium chloride (TTC) staining. The contents of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), malondialdehyde (MDA), and myeloperoxidase (MPO) and total superoxide dismutase(TSOD) activity in the non-infarcted myocardial tissues were measured by radioimmunoassay; the levels of nitric oxide (NO) and the activities of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) and inducible NOS(iNOS) were detected by colorimetric method. ResultsThe ratio of the infarcted area to the ischemia area (ischemia but non-infarcted area+infarcted area) and the ratio of the infarcted area to the left ventricular area in group AT+I/R were both significantly lower than those in group I/R ( \[29.4±8.4)% vs