ABSTRACT-The aim of this study was to clarify the difference in the profiles of nitric oxide (NO) formation of three NO releasers and to examine the correlation between NO formation from these drugs and their biological activities in rats. (±)-(E)-ethyl-2-[(E)-hydroxyimino]-5-nitro-3-hexenamide (FK409) and 3-morpholinosydnonimine (SIN-1) spontaneously generated nitrite, an oxidative product of NO, in sodium phosphate buffer (PB) solution. On the other hand, sodium nitroprusside (SNP) did not generate nitrite. The rank order of the concentrations of nitrite generated was SIN-1 >FK409>SNP.In biological studies using rats, these drugs showed anti-platelet effects and in vitro vasorelaxant and hypotensive effects with potencies in the rank order of FK409 > SIN-1 > SNP and SNP > FK409 > SIN-1, respectively. These drugs generated nitrite with concentrations in the rank order of FK409 > SIN-1 > SNP and SNP > FK409 > SIN-1 in rat plasma and in PB solution with L-cysteine (Cys), respectively. In conclusion, three NO releasers liberate NO with NO-releasing rates of different rank orders under different incubation conditions, and the anti-platelet effects and vasorelaxant and hypotensive effects of these NO releasers closely correlate with NO formation from the compounds in the plasma and PB solution with Cys, respectively, but not with that in PB solution without Cys.Keywords: FK409, 3-Morpholinosydnonimine (SIN-1), Sodium nitroprusside (SNP), Nitric oxide (NO) Fig. 1) is a structurally unique vasodilator discovered from the fermentation products of Streptomyces griseosporeus (1). FK409 has produced a potent vasorelaxation mediated by the elevation of cyclic GMP in isolated dog coronary artery (2), rabbit aorta (3) and rat aorta (4). In addition, FK409 has shown a potent inhibition of platelet aggregation in human (5) and rat (6) platelet-rich plasma. Recently, we have reported that these biological actions of FK409 can be accounted for by spontaneous nitric oxide (NO) release following decomposition of the compound (5). However, the NO-releasing pathway of FK409 remains unclear.3-Morpholinosydnonimine (SIN-1, Fig. 1) and sodium nitroprusside (SNP, Fig. 1) have been also reported as NO releasers that liberate NO spontaneously (7,8). In addition, these compounds have been also suggested to show vasorelaxant and antiplatelet effects (9, 10). Three NO releasers including FK409 have different structures, so it is considered that the profiles of NO formation of the compounds are different. It has not been reported whether NO formation from different types of spontaneous NO releaser correlates with the activities of the compounds in several biological studies.The purpose of this study was to clarify the difference in the profiles of NO formation of these NO releasers under several incubation conditions by measuring the concentration of nitrite, an oxidative product of NO, and examine the correlation between NO formation from these drugs and their biological activities. In biological studies, we evaluated in vitro anti-platelet ...