To explore the potential of lipoteichoic acid (LTA) induced cardioprotection against is-chemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury in isolated rat hearts and whether endogenous nitric oxide (NO)participates-in the protection, the rats were pretreated with LTA (1 mg/kg, i. p. ) 24 h before theexperiment, and the isolated hearts were subjected to 30 min no-flow normothermic global ischemiaand 60 min reperfusion after a 20-min stabilization period by the langendorff method. Cardiac func-tions were evaluated at the end of stabilization, and at 30 min, 60 min of reperfusion. The amountsof MB isoenzyme of creatine kinase (CK-MB), lactate dehydrogenase(LDH) and total NO oxidationproducts in the coronary effluent were measured spectrophotometrically at the end of reperfusion. Itwas revealed that pretreatment with LTA could significantly improve the recovery of cardiac func-tion, reduce the release of CK-MB and LDH, and increase the concentrations of NO in coronary ef-fluent. The protective effects were abrogated by pretreatment of the rats with L-NAME. It wasconcluded that LTA could induce the delayed cardioprotection against I/R injury, and endogenousNO may be involved in the mechanisms.