Levosimendan cardioprotection in acutely beta-1 adrenergic receptor blocked open chest pigs.
Background: Levosimendan and volatile anesthetics have myocardial pre-conditioning effects. beta-1 adrenergic receptor antagonists may inhibit the protective effect of volatile anesthetics. No information exists as to whether this also applies to the pre-conditioning effect of levosimendan. We therefore investigated whether levosimendan added to metoprolol would demonstrate a cardioprotective effe