Fig. 1.

a The protective effect of simulated ischaemic preconditioning (sIPC) against a range of doxorubicin (Dox) concentrations. Primary adult rat cardiomyocytes were subject to 18 h Dox treatment at the indicated concentrations, with or without preceding simulated ischaemic preconditioning (sIPC). sIPC prevented the increase in cell death from 7.5 or 10 μM Dox (** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001 n = 5). b Inhibiting PI3K/Akt but not MAPK/ERK1/2 eliminated sIPC-mediated protection against cell death caused by 18 h exposure to 7.5 μM doxorubicin. Cells were treated with LY294002 to inhibit PI3K/Akt or PD98059 to inhibit MAPK/ERK1/2, throughout exposure to sIPC and Dox as in panel a. (*** p < 0.001 n = 5)