Aim To study the role of ischemic preconditioning in reducing myocardial injuries and reducing myocyte apoptosis. Methods The models of ischemic preconditioning (IP), ischemia reperfusion injury (RI) and continuous ischemia (CI) were made with rabbits.The presence of apoptotic myocytes was demonstrated by the method of terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase mediated dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL). Also, the activities of plasma superoxide dismutase(SOD) were determined by the method of xanthine oxidase and the contents of serum malonic aldehyde (MDA) were checked by colorimetry. Their serum cardiac enzymes including aspartate transaminase (AST), lactate dehydrogenase(LDH), creatine kinase(CK)and hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase(HBD) were checked at same time. Results The serum contents of AST, LDH,CK and HBD in RI and CI groups were higher than those in IP and control groups (P< 0.01), which meaned that there was severe damage in myocytes of RI and CI groups. Plasma activities of SOD in RI and CI groups decreased(P<0.01, compared with IP and control groups), but there was no statistic significance between IP and control groups. The contents of serum MDA in RI group was also higher than other groups (P<0.01 or 0.05). The rate of apoptotic myocytes in IP group (24.44±2.96%)was higher than that in control(0.71±0.51%), but was lower than that in CI (29.56±3.08%) and RI groups (43.33±4.92%) significantly (P<0.001). Conclusion This study suggested that IP could prevent myocardial injury induced by ischemia-reperfusion and continuous ischemia , and also reduce the rates of myocyte apoptosis in those situations.