Tissue protection against ischemia (I)/reperfusion (R) injury by heparins can be due to their anticoagulant and/or non-anticoagulant properties. Here we studied the protective potential of the anticoagulant and the non-anticoagulant features of heparin sodium (HepSo) and enoxaparin (Enox) against mesenteric I/R injury in a rat model.