We tested our hypothesis that the O2 wasting of Ca2+ handling in the excitation-contraction (E-C) coupling in ryanodine-treated failing hearts could be reflected by a decrease in the internal Ca2+ recirculation fraction (RF). We have reported, using canine excised cross-circulated hearts, that intracoronary ryanodine (40 nmol/l blood) halved left ventricular contractility without decreasing myocardial O2 consumption for the E-C coupling. We previously suspected this mechanoenergetic state to manifest energy wasting of Ca2+ handling due to ryanodine causing leakage of Ca2+ from the sarcoplasmic reticulum. To test this hypothesis, we analyzed all the sporadic spontaneous cases of postextrasystolic potentiation (PESP) obtained during the ryanodine experiments. We calculated RF from the beat constant of the exponential decay component of not only the monotonic type but also the transient alternans type of PESP. Results showed that ryanodine significantly decreased the beat constant in both types of PESP from about 2 to 1.5 beats and hence RF from 0.6 to 0.5 on the average, supporting the hypothesis. This organ-level systems approach to Ca2+ handling using transient alternans PESP as well as monotonic PESP may help obtain better insights into the mechanoenergetics of failing hearts.