The goals of the present study were to provide information into the controversy about nitric oxide (NO) status of the liver during endotoxemia and to assess the role of the phosphatase inhibitor cyclosporin A (CsA) during the insult. Rats were injected with saline, lipopolysaccharide (LPS, 10 mg/kg i.p.) or cyclosporin A (CsA, 5 mg/kg. i.p.) + LPS, S-nitroso-N-acetyl penicillamine (SNAP, 0.1 mMikg) + CsA + LPS or molsidomine (molsid, 0.2 mg/kg) + CsA + LPS. Rat hepatocytes were isolated and tested for metabolic competence by the rate of urea synthesis and for lipid peroxidation. Hepatocytes were cultured under various treatments as LPS or cytokine mixture (CM, TNF-alpha 500 U/ml, INF-gamma 100 U/ml, IL-1beta 200 U/ ml) with or without CsA and iNOS expression was evaluated by NO productivity and by RT-PCR. Twenty-four hours after LPS dosing in vivo, the mortality rate was 15%, while CsA pretreatment increased mortality rate to 30% and reduced hepatocyte viability, increased ALT leakage and reduced urea synthesis. SNAP and Molsid resulted in complete survival of rats, increased urea synthesis, increased cell viability and reduced alanine aminotransferase leakage. LPS or CM increased iNOS expression while CsA pretreatment reduced iNOS expression. There was no correlation between lipid peroxide levels in hepatocytes and functional status of hepatocytes under various treatments. This study demonstrates that NO produced during endotoxemia and under the present conditions is protective to the liver and may function as an adaptive mechanism and that the inhibition of iNOS by compounds like CsA produce unfavorable effects.