The effects of sodium orthovanadate, an inhibitor of protein tyrosine phosphatases, on the endothelial nitric oxide (NO) pathway were studied in vitro. Vanadate caused endothelium-dependent relaxations in isolated porcine coronary arteries, which were abolished by N omega-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester. The relaxations were also abolished by pertussis toxin, an inhibitor of certain G proteins. Tyrosine kinase inhibitors, genistein and alpha-cyano-3-ethoxy-4-hydroxy-5-phenyl-methylcinnamamide (ST-638), significantly attenuated the vanadate-induced relaxations. Vanadate also caused pertussis toxin-sensitive, endothelium-dependent relaxations in isolated porcine renal and femoral arteries and jugular veins. Immunoblots, using an antibody to phosphotyrosines and to c-Src in native porcine aortic endothelial cells, respectively, showed that vanadate induced an elevation of phosphotyrosine proteins and a decrease in the amount of the active form of c-Src family kinases; both changes were markedly suppressed by cotreatment with ST-638. These results indicate that in porcine blood vessels, vanadate causes a synthesis of endothelium-derived NO for which endothelial tyrosine kinases and pertussis toxin-sensitive G protein are considered to be closely involved.