1 The effects of the nitric oxide (NO) synthase inhibitors, N0-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME) and NG-monomethyl-L-arginine (L-NMMA), on the vascular damage induced by the endotoxin, E. coli lipopolysaccharide (LPS), in the ileum and colon were investigated in the conscious rat over a 5 h period. 2 Administration of LPS (3 mg kg-', i.v.) increased ileal and colonic vascular injury after a lag period of 2 h, as determined by the leakage of radiolabelled albumin. 3 Administration of L-NAME (1-5 mg kg-', s.c.) concurrently with LPS, produced a dose-dependent increase in vascular albumin leakage in the intestinal tissues, when determined over a 5 h period. Vascular albumin leakage with LPS and L-NAME (5 mg kg-') was substantially increased after 1 h, reached maximal levels 3 h after administration, and then slowly declined. 4 L-NMMA (50 mg kg-1, s.c.), likewise elevated intestinal albumin leakage when administered concurrently with LPS, but this reached maximal levels after 1 h and rapidly declined over the subsequent 2 h. 5 In control rats, in the absence of LPS challenge, neither L-NAME (5 mg kg-', s.c.) nor L-NMMA (50 mg kg-', s.c.) increased intestinal vascular leakage of albumin over a 5 h period. 6 By contrast, when L-NAME (1-5 mg kg-', s.c.) or L-NMMA (12.5-50mg kg-', s.c.) was injected 3 h after LPS, a dose-dependent reduction in the LPS-provoked vascular albumin leakage was observed. 7 Pretreatment with L-arginine (300 mg kg-', s.c.) 15 min prior to the NO synthase inhibitors, reversed either the potentiation or the inhibition by L-NAME (5 mg kg-', s.c.) or L-NMMA (50 mg kg-', s.c.) of the LPS-induced intestinal vascular damage. 8 These findings indicate that initial suppression of the constitutive NO synthase by L-NAME or L-NMMA following challenge with LPS aggravates the acute vascular injury in the ileum and colon, suggesting a defensive role of NO. By contrast, the delayed administration of NO synthase inhibitors, at a time of known expression of the inducible NO synthase, provides protection against the subsequent damage to the intestinal vasculature.