Severe malaria is associated with decreased nitric oxide (NO) production and low plasma concentrations of L-arginine, the substrate for NO synthase. Supplementation with L-arginine has the potential to improve NO bioavailability and outcomes. We developed a pharmacokinetic model for L-arginine in moderately severe malaria to explore the concentration-time profile and identify important covariates. In doses of 3, 6, or 12 g, L-arginine was infused over 30 min to 30 adults with moderately severe malaria, and plasma concentrations were measured at 8 to 11 time points. Patients who had not received L-arginine were also assessed and included in the model. The data were analyzed using a population approach with NONMEM software. A two-compartment linear model with first-order elimination best described the data, with a clearance of 44 liters/h (coefficient of variation [CV] ؍ 52%) and a volume of distribution of 24 liters (CV ؍ 19%). The natural time course of L-arginine recovery was described empirically by a second-order polynomial with a time to half recovery of 26 h. The half-life of exogenous L-arginine was reduced in patients with malaria compared with that for healthy adults. Weight and ethnicity were significant covariates for clearance. MATLAB simulations of dosing schedules for use in future studies predicted that 12 g given over 6, 8, or 12 h will provide concentrations above the K m of endothelial cell CAT-1 transporters in 90%, 75%, and 60% of patients, respectively.The treatment of severe malaria currently relies on antimalarial drugs and supportive treatments, but the early case fatality rate remains high (8). Adjunctive therapies targeting underlying pathogenic processes early in the treatment of severe malaria may reduce mortality further, but to date none have proven efficacious (10). L-Arginine has been proposed as a potential adjunctive therapy for severe malaria because of its ability to increase nitric oxide (NO) production in endothelial and other cells (16, 34).We have previously described impaired production of NO (1, 34); low plasma concentrations of its precursor, L-arginine (16); and impaired NO-dependent endothelial function in cases of severe malaria (34). Endothelial dysfunction is a measure of endothelial activation and may play a role in the pathogenesis of severe malaria by increasing the adhesion of parasitized erythrocytes to the endothelium and thereby worsening microcirculatory obstruction and oxygen delivery (9). NO downregulates endothelial inflammation (7) and reduces the cytoadherence of parasitized erythrocytes in vitro (20,23). Endothelial NO production is dependent on the intracellular movement of extracellular L-arginine by cationic amino acid transporter protein-1 (CAT-1) (35). Estimates for the halfsaturating concentration (K m ) of extracellular L-arginine for CAT-1 are 100 to 150 mol/liter (32), within the estimated range of the K m of extracellular L-arginine for intracellular NO production (73 to 150 mol/liter) (11, 14). In severe malaria, plasma L-arginine concen...