Summary:The most common cause of cardiovascular mortality in man is the outcome from myocardial infarction. Accordingly, it is necesarry to study the corresponding process of heart injury recovery in many mouse models relevant to human cardiovascular disease. This protocol describes the surgical induction of myocardial injury via 1) permanent ligation of a coronary artery in the heart (myocardial infarction), 2) cryoinjury, and 3) transient occlusion of a coronary artery followed by reperfusion (ischemia-reperfusion injury).