Advanced cirrhosis is known to be associated with extrahepatic organ dysfunction, but the mechanism for this cirrhosis complication is largely unknown. We measured tissue albumin leakage in rats with biliary cirrhosis or acute cholestasis and tested the hypothesis that arachidonic acid metabolites contribute to the vascular permeability change. Six weeks after bile duct ligation, rats with biliary cirrhosis exhibited increased extravascular leakage of 125I-albumin in lung (p < 0.001) and kidney (p < 0.01) but not in heart or brain. In contrast, in cholestatic rats 10 days after bile duct ligation, only the kidney albumin leak was significantly increased (p < 0.01). Tissue thromboxane B2 levels, measured with an enzyme immunoassay, were increased in lung, kidney and liver of cirrhotic and cholestatic rats. To determine whether thromboxane A2 contributes to the vascular permeability defects in cirrhosis, we pretreated cirrhotic rats with the thromboxane synthase inhibitor dazoxiben (10 mg/kg intraperitoneally every 8 hr) for 20 hr before assessment of vascular permeability. Dazoxiben blocked the increase in thromboxane B2 level in lung but not in kidney and lowered the lung but not the kidney albumin leak index. In cholestatic rats given a higher dose of dazoxiben (40 mg/kg intraperitoneally every 8 hr) for 20 hr, the kidney thromboxane B2 level but not albumin leak was significantly lowered. We conclude that chronic biliary obstruction in rats leads to increased vascular permeability in selected extrahepatic organs and that thromboxane A2 contributes to the vascular permeability increase in the lung. Whether thromboxane A2 plays a role in renal albumin leakage will require further study.