The purpose of this study was to determine whether exogenous fructose-1,6-bisphosphate (F-1,6-P2) directly affects myocardial hemodynamics and certain metabolic parameters. Isolated working rat hearts were perfused for 30 min with 10 mM glucose (+insulin) as the exclusive exogenous substrate followed by 15 min with glucose plus one of the following concentrations (in mM) of F-1,6-P2: 1.25, 2.5, 5, or 10, and finally returned to the glucose only buffer. Additions of 2.5 and 5 mM F-1,6-P2 decreased (P less than 0.01) oxygen consumption (VO2) by 10.8 and 17.0% and coronary flow by 8.3 and 10.3%, respectively. No changes were observed in lactate release, cardiac output (CO), peak systolic pressure, heart rate, or pressure work (PW). Efficiency, expressed as PW divided by VO2, increased with F-1,6-P2 by 8.6% with 1.25 mM (P less than 0.05), 13.2% with 2.5 mM (P less than 0.01), and 16.9% with 5 mM (P less than 0.01). F-1,6-P2 at 10 mM produced no further improvements in VO2 or efficiency but was associated with declines (P less than 0.05) in CO and PW. Glucose plus 10 mM fructose had no effects on any of the above parameters, indicating that the F-1,6-P2-induced changes were not due to changes in osmolarity or to end products of F-1,6-P2 hydrolysis. Some chelation of buffer calcium by F-1,6-P2 occurred, but when free calcium was equalized in glucose and glucose plus 5 mM F-1,6-P2 buffers, the decline in VO2 (11.5%) was still far greater than could be explained by exogenous F-1,6-P2 metabolism in the glycolytic pathway.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)