There is increasing evidence that activated neutrophils cause myocardial injury during reperfusion of ischemic myocardium. This study was performed to assess the effect of Ci-922, an inhibitor of neutrophil activation, in a canine preparation of myocardial infarction. Dogs received 15-min infusions of CI-922 1 mg/kg or 5% dextrose beginning 30 min before occlusion of the left circumflex coronary artery. After occlusion for 90 min and reperfusion for 6 h, infarct size was determined by ex vivo perfusion of the left circumflex coronary artery with triphenyltetrazolium chloride. The percentage of the area at risk infarcted was: control, 42 +/- 5; and CI-922, 23 +/- 4 (p less than 0.05 vs. control). There were no significant inter-group differences in heart rate or mean arterial pressure, and CI-922 did not enhance collateral blood flow to the ischemic bed. After incubation with CI-922 (100 microM), production of superoxide anions by canine neutrophils activated by opsonized zymosam decreased from 3.5 +/- 0.2 to 2.0 +/- 0.4 nmol/10 min/10(6) cells (p less than 0.05). Thus, inhibition of neutrophil-mediated damage may explain the cardioprotective effect of CI-922.