Abstract： Objective To observe the expression changes of microRNA 1 （miRNA-1） and microRNA 21（miRNA-21） after ischemic preconditioning （IPC）, ischemic postconditioning （IPO） and remote ischemic preconditioning （RIPC）in an ischemia-reperfusion rat heart model in vitro, as well as the expression of their target protein heat shock protein 70 （HSP70） and programmed cell death 4 （PDCD4）, and evaluate whether miRNA are involved in endogenous cardio-protective mechanism. Methods The Langendorff-perfused Sprague-Dawley rat hearts were randomly assigned into one of the four groups, control group （CON group, n=12）, ischemia preconditioning group （IPC group， n=12） , ischemia postconditioning group （IPO group， n=12） and remote ischemia preconditioning group （RIPC group，n=12）. Cardiac function was digitalized and analyzed. The expression of HSP70, PDCD4, B-cell lymphoma/leukemia-2 （Bcl-2） and Bax was detected by Western blotting. The expression of miRNA-1 and miRNA-21 was detected by real-time reverse transcriotion-polymerase chain reaction （RT-PCR）. Assessment of cardiac infarct size and myocardial apoptosis was determined using triphenyltetrazolium chloride （TTC） assay and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP-biotin nick end labeling assay （TUNEL） assay respectively. Results The expressions of miRNA-1 and miRNA-21 were up-regulated in IPC group, but the expression of miRNA-1 was down-regulated in RIPC group and IPO group （P＜0.05）. The expressionsof PDCD4, HSP70 and Bax were down-regulated in ‘conditioning’ groups compared with CON group （P＜0.05）. The expression of Bcl-2 was not statistically different among the four groups. The infarct size and the myocardial apoptosis in ‘conditioning’ hearts were significantly decreased compared with CON group （P＜0.05）. Conclusion The expressions of the miRNA-1 and miRNA-21 are different in IPC, RIPC and IPO groups, and their target proteins are not inversely correlated with the miRNAs in all the ‘conditioning’ groups.