This study was aimed to determine the mechanism by which endogenous nitric oxide suppression promotes leukocyte adhesion in vivo. The rat mesenteric microcirculation was superfused with NG-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME; 100 microM), and intracellular oxidant formation in several microcirculatory cellular components such as arteriolar and venular endothelium and mast cells was visually monitored by digital microfluorography assisted by carboxydichlorofluorescein (CDCF), a hydroperoxide-sensitive fluorogenic probe. Adherent leukocyte density was measured simultaneously. L-NAME induced a significant time-dependent increase in CDCF fluorescence in arteriolar and venular endothelium and mast cells followed by firm adhesion of leukocytes. L-NAME-induced CDCF elevation showed a different spatial distribution compared with that evoked by N-formylmethionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine, in which only local venular segments with adhering leukocytes exhibited CDCF fluorescence enhancement. The level of hydroperoxide formation in arterioles and venules evoked by 60-min L-NAME superfusion was equivalent to that induced by the superfusion of approximately 880 microM tert-butyl hydroperoxide for 10 min. Pretreatment with anti-intracellular adhesion molecule-1, anti-P-selectin, or anti-CD18 monoclonal antibody attenuated L-NAME-elicited venular leukocyte adhesion without abolishing CDCF fluorescence in situ. Pretreatment with desferioxamine (50 mg/kg iv; 1 h before L-NAME superfusion) significantly diminished the iron-catalyzed hydroperoxide formation in arterioles and venules, but not in interstitial mast cells, as well as subsequent venular leukocyte adhesion. These findings indicate that endogenous nitric oxide may modulate oxidative stress in mast cells, arteriolar and venular microvascular endothelium and thereby can play a crucial role in leukocyte recruitment in venules.