The small GTP-binding protein Rho and its downstream effector, Rho-kinase, are important regulators of vasoconstrictor tone. Rho-kinase is upregulated in experimental models of pulmonary hypertension, and Rho-kinase inhibitors decrease pulmonary arterial pressure in rodents with monocrotaline and chronic hypoxia-induced pulmonary hypertension. However, less is known about responses to fasudil when pulmonary vascular resistance is elevated on an acute basis by vasoconstrictor agents and ventilatory hypoxia. In the present study, intravenous injections of fasudil reversed pulmonary hypertensive responses to intravenous infusion of the thromboxane receptor agonist, U-46619 and ventilation with a 10% O(2) gas mixture and inhibited pulmonary vasoconstrictor responses to intravenous injections of angiotensin II, BAY K 8644, and U-46619 without prior exposure to agonists, which can upregulate Rho-kinase activity. The calcium channel blocker isradipine and fasudil had similar effects and in small doses had additive effects in blunting vasoconstrictor responses, suggesting parallel and series mechanisms in the lung. When pulmonary vascular resistance was increased with U-46619, fasudil produced similar decreases in pulmonary and systemic arterial pressure, whereas isradipine produced greater decreases in systemic arterial pressure. The hypoxic pressor response was enhanced by 5-10 mg/kg iv nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME), and fasudil or isradipine reversed the pulmonary hypertensive response to hypoxia in control and in L-NAME-treated animals, suggesting that the response is mediated by Rho-kinase and L-type Ca(2+) channels. These results suggest that Rho-kinase is constitutively active in regulating baseline tone and vasoconstrictor responses in the lung under physiological conditions and that Rho-kinase inhibition attenuates pulmonary vasoconstrictor responses to agents that act by different mechanisms without prior exposure to the agonist.