The aim of this study was to determine whether diabetes enhanced the sensitivity of the myocardium to the deleterious effects of in vivo-administered Escherichia coli. Diabetes was induced in two groups of animals. One group received 70 mg/kg streptozotocin (iv) and exhibited a severe diabetes with elevated fasting and fed blood glucose concentrations and a markedly abnormal response to an oral glucose load. The second group received 45 mg/kg streptozotocin, was mildly diabetic (termed "latent" diabetes), and was characterized by normal fasting blood glucose but slightly elevated fed blood glucose and an abnormal response to a glucose load. A third group of rats received vehicle and served as time-matched control animals. Four weeks after induction of diabetes, all animals were catheterized under ether anesthesia and some received intraperitoneal injections of live E. coli. In vitro myocardial performance was assessed using the isolated, perfused working heart preparation. Ventricular function curves were generated by changing left atrial filling pressure and measuring changes in heart rate, cardiac output, and aortic peak systolic pressure. Cardiac performance in the severe diabetic group was depressed at the highest preload but was unchanged at lower preloads. Function in the latent diabetic group was not different from control. Sepsis induced a slight decrease in cardiac performance in the control group and resulted in larger reductions in the latent and severe diabetic groups. A depression in aortic flow was the major consequence of sepsis in the latent diabetic group, whereas decreased coronary flow was the primary change in the severe diabetic group.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)