The mechanisms of recovery from inactivation of the L-type calcium current (I_Ca) are not well established and recovery is affected by many experimental conditions. Little is known about developmental changes of recovery from inactivation of I_Ca. Methods: We studied developmental changes of recovery from inactivation in I_Ca using isolated adult and newborn (1-4 days) rabbit ventricular myocytes. We used broken-patch and perforated- patch techniques with physiological extracellular ionic concentrations of calcium and sodium and interpulse conditioning potentials of -80 or -50 mV. We also maximized I_Ca with forskolin. Results: Recovery from inactivation did not differ between adult and newborn cells when either EGTA or BAPTA was used to buffer intracellular calcium. Maximizing I_Ca with forskolin slowed recovery from inactivation in newborn but not adult cells. In contrast, when the intracellular buffering of the cell was left nearly intact (perforated patch) recovery from inactivation (half time of recovery, T_1/2) in the newborn cells was significantly slower than for the adult cells when either a conditioning potential of -80 mV (140 ± 9 ms vs. 58 ± 4 ms, newborn vs. adult, p< 0.05) or -50 mV (641 ± 106 ms vs. 168 ± 15 ms, newborn vs. adult, p< 0.05) was used. Forskolin significantly increased T_1/2 for both adult and newborn cells. Dialysis with no calcium buffer showed a slower recovery from inactivation in newborn cells. Conclusions: Intracellular dialysis with a calcium buffer masked differences in recovery from inactivation of I_Ca between newborn and adult rabbit ventricular cells.