Fig. 1. Experimental protocol. (  A ) Experiments for infarct size measurements (all groups n = 7). (  B ) Experiments for subsequent western blot assay; 12 groups (all n = 4) received vehicle, calphostin C, or PD98059, and the hearts were excised at four different time points. Control;  Des-PC = desflurane preconditioning;  Wash = washout;  Calph C = calphostin C;  PD = PD98059;  Base = baseline; the  arrows mark the time of blocker infusion 10 min before pharmacological preconditioning with desflurane.