Myocardial ischemia and reperfusion (MI/R) is associated with an intense inflammatory reaction, which may lead to myocyte injury. Because statins protect the myocardium against ischemia-reperfusion injury via a mechanism unrelated to cholesterol-lowering, we hypothesized that the protective effect of statins was related to the expression of TNF-alpha (TNF-alpha) and interleukin-10 (IL-10) mRNA. Seventy-two rats were randomly divided into three groups as follows: sham, I/R and I/R + atorvastatin. Atorvastatin (20 mg kg(-1) day(-1)) treatment was administered daily via oral gavage to rats for 2, 7 or 14 days. Ischemia was induced via a 30-min coronary occlusion. Reperfusion was allowed until 2, 7 or 14 days while atorvastatin treatment continued. We measured infarct size, hemodynamics and the plasma levels and the mRNA expression of TNF-alpha and IL-10 in the three groups. We demonstrated that the up-regulation of expression of both TNF-alpha mRNA and IL-10 mRNA was associated the increased plasma levels of TNF-alpha and IL-10 in the ischemic and reperfused myocardium compared with that in the sham group (P<0.01). Atorvastatin treatment prevented ischemia-reperfusion-induced up-regulation of both TNF-alpha and IL-10 mRNA, and improved left ventricular function (P<0.01). Our findings suggested that atorvastatin may attenuate MI/R and better recovery of left ventricle function following ischemia and reperfusion and IL-10 was not directly likely involved in this protective mechanism. (C) 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.