Several reports suggest that steroids can exert cardioprotective effects against ischemia/reperfusion injury; however, the molecular mechanism through which they exert such effects is not very clear. The aim of this study is to evaluate the biological activity of an estrogen derivative against ischemia/reperfusion injury in an isolated heart model using noradrenaline, milrinone, dobutamine and levosimedan as controls. In addition, the effect exerted by the steroid derivative on left ventricular pressure was evaluated in the absence or presence of metoprolol, propanolol and nifedipine drugs. The results showed that 1) the steroid derivative significantly reduced ischemia-reperfusion injury, resulting in a reduction of the infarct area in a manner similar to the noradrenaline drug; 2) the steroid derivative increases the left ventricular pressure and this effect was inhibited in the presence of metoprolol and propanolol drugs. All these data indicate that the steroid derivative decreases the area of infarction and increases left ventricle pressure via β₁-adrenergic receptors; this phenomenon could constitute a new therapy for ischemia/reperfusion injury.