This study was conducted to evaluate whether treatment of normal and diabetic rat hearts with rosiglitazone, a high-affinity ligand of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma (PPAR-gamma) used for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, improves postischemic functional recovery. The effects of acute rosiglitazone administration were investigated using working hearts isolated from normal rat or rats diabetic for 4 weeks after streptozotocin (STZ) injection. Hearts were subjected to 30 min of normothermic, zero-flow ischemia followed by 30-min reperfusion. Rosiglitazone (1 micromol/l) administered before ischemia had no effect on cardiac function during baseline perfusion, but it significantly improved aortic flow during reperfusion in both normal and diabetic hearts. In a chronic protocol in which rosiglitazone was given by daily gavage (10 micromol/kg body wt) immediately after STZ injection, rosiglitazone also prevented postischemic injury and significantly improved functional recovery. Using Western immunoblotting, it was demonstrated that the acute cardioprotective effect of rosiglitazone is associated with an inhibition of Jun NH(2)-terminal kinase phosphorylation in both normal and diabetic rat hearts. Furthermore, rosiglitazone also inhibited activating protein-1 DNA-binding activity. These data, demonstrating that rosiglitazone limits postischemic injury in isolated hearts, suggest an important function for PPAR-gamma in the heart.