A B S T R A a . W e assessed the in vivo and in vitro effects of antibiotics and tin-protoporphyrin (TP) on intestinal heme oxygenase (HO) activity using a gas chromatographic assay. This method measures the carbon monoxide produced from heme in the presence of NADPH. After in vivo administration of kanamycin (10 mg/kg body weight), ampicillin (200 mg/kg body weight) or neomycin (60 mg/ kg body weight) with or without T P (65 pmol/kg body weight) to suckling rats, no significant difference in HO activity along the small intestine was observed. I n vitro exposure of adult rat intestinal preparations to the antibiotics showed no significant decrease in H O activity between control and experimental tissue preparations. A concentration-dependent stimulatory effect of neomycin was observed. Subcutaneous administration of T P (25 pmol/kg body weight) to adult male Wistar rats revealed no significant inhibition of the intestine. However, in vitro addition of T P (12.5 pM) to the control tissue preparations of adult Wistar rats revealed highly significant inhibition in liver and spleen when compared to the unexposed control tissues. In contrast, when T P was added to control intestinal preparations no inhibition was observed. These findings suggest that suckling rat intestinal heme oxygenase is not inhibited by in vivo treatment with high concentrations of kanamycin, ampicillin, or neomycin. Furthermore, these antibiotics are not in vitro inhibitors of adult rat intestinal HO. Finally, adult rat intestinal H O is not inhibited either in vivo or in vitro by a concentration of TP that significantly inhibits liver and spleen activity. (Pediatr Res 23: 50-53, 1988) Abbreviations CO, carbon monoxide TP, tin-protoporphyrin HO, heme oxygenase VeCO, excretion rate of C O TP, a synthetic heme analog, has been reported to be a competitive inhibitor of HO (1-3). This rate-limiting enzyme in the heme catabolic pathway (4) catalyzes the equimolar formation of bilirubin and CO. In vivo studies with TP have demonstrated the drug's effectiveness in lowering serum bilirubin levels in rats ( 3 , in mice with severe hemolytic anemia (6) in rhesus monkeys (7), and in man (8). Preliminary studies in our laboratory suggested that a single dose of TP has no suppressive effect on the excretion rate of CO (VeCO) in suckling rats (9, 10) unless