The objectives of this study were to determine if psychosocial stress impairs dilation through endothelium-derived relaxing factor (EDRF)-mediated mechanisms and if this effect is long lasting. Monkeys were fed an atherogenic diet for 36 mo while in one of three experimental conditions: (a) stable social groups ("unstressed," n = 6); (b) unstable social groups for the first half of the experiment and stable groups for the second half ("early stress," n = 8); and (c) stable groups for the first half of the experiment and unstable groups for the second half ("late stress," n = 6). Iliac arteries were studied in organ chambers containing Krebs' buffer and 10(-6) M indomethacin. Arteries from the late stress group had impaired dilation (shift of the dose-response curve down and to the right) to acetylcholine and the calcium ionophore A23187 (for both, P < 0.05), but not to nitroprusside (P > 0.05), compared with unstressed or early stress monkeys. NG-methyl-L-arginine reduced the dose-response curve to both acetylcholine and A23187 in the unstressed group and resulted in similar vascular responses among all three groups (P > 0.05). We conclude that current, but not previous, exposure to chronic stress impairs endothelium-mediated dilation of atherosclerotic iliac arteries of cynomolgus monkeys through an EDRF-mediated mechanism.