Diabetes is associated with impaired cardiac diastolic dysfunction. Isolated ventricular myocytes from diabetic animals demonstrate impaired relaxation concomitant with prolonged intracellular Ca2+ transients. We have recently shown that maintaining normal adult rat ventricular myocytes in a "diabetic-like" culture medium (low insulin and high glucose) produces abnormalities in excitation-contraction coupling similar to in vivo diabetes. Troglitazone (TRO), a novel insulin-sensitizing agent, significantly lowers blood pressure and modestly increases cardiac output in vivo, but its direct impact on cardiac function is unknown. To determine whether TRO could prevent high-glucose-induced dysfunction, normal myocytes were maintained in culture for 1-2 days in either normal medium containing 5 mmol/l glucose or high-glucose medium containing 25 mmol/l glucose. TRO (5 micromol/l) was added to both normal and high-glucose media. Mechanical properties were evaluated using a high-resolution video-edge detection system, and Ca2+ transients were recorded in fura-2-loaded myocytes. Relaxation from peak contraction was significantly longer in myocytes cultured in high glucose. Treating cells with TRO either attenuated or prevented the high-glucose effects, without changing the mechanical properties of myocytes cultured in normal medium. TRO also prevented the abnormally slow rates of Ca2+ transient decay induced by high glucose. Collectively, these data demonstrate that TRO can protect against the high-glucose-induced relaxation defects, perhaps through changes in intracellular Ca2+ handling. If TRO has both vasodilatory actions and beneficial cardiac properties (e.g., improvement of diastolic function) in the presence of hyperglycemia, this antidiabetic agent may prove to have significant salutary cardiovascular effects in type II diabetes.