The effects of etomidate and thiopental on myocardial contractility were compared in 10 experiments on isolated papillary muscle preparation perfused by a conscious donor dog. Equianesthetic doses of etomidate (1.4 mg/kg) and thiopental (15.5 mg/kg) were determined separately in conscious dogs. Tension developed by the papillary muscle decreased significantly less after etomidate (17 +/- 2%) than after thiopental (33 +/- 3%) (P less than 0.002) when injected intravenously in equianesthetic doses in donor dogs. When added to arterial blood perfusing the papillary muscle, etomidate had 4-5 times more negative inotropic effect than thiopental. At the same time, the anesthetic potency of etomidate was approximately 11 times greater than that of thiopental. We conclude that both etomidate and thiopental produce a dose-dependent direct negative inotropic effect but that in equianesthetic doses, etomidate causes less pronounced depression of myocardial contractility than thiopental.