Background　The mechanism of myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury（MI/RI） is mainly due to the oxidative stress injury， and supplying exogenous zinc for myocardial pretreatment can protect myocardium injured by ischemia/reperfusion， but the specific mechanism is still not clear.　Objective　To investigate the protective effect and its mechanism of supplying exogenous zinc for myocardial pretreatment.　Content　Summarize the basic physiological role of zinc and the protective effect and mechanism of myocardial pretreatment by supplying exogenous zinc， study whether the exogenous zinc relieves the MI/RI mainly by activating the transcription factor NF-E2-related factor 2（Nrf2）-antioxidant response element（ARE） antioxidant pathway， stimulating and inducing addition of metallothionein（MT）， and also regulating the opening and closing of mitochondrial permeability transition pores（mPTP） and other mechanisms.　Trend　The exogenous zinc relieves the MI/RI mainly by the terminal effect of antioxidation， however， the specific mechanism requires further research.