The question of whether vasodilator nitrates act by releasing prostacyclin is controversial. Since the ability of blood vessels to form prostacyclin changes with age, we have investigated whether this may explain the discrepancies in the literature. It does not, since isosorbide dinitrate or glyceryl trinitrate incubated with rat aorta or vena cava from male Wistar rats had little or no effect on the release of prostacyclin, measured as 6-keto-PGF1 alpha. We confirm that the aorta produces substantially more prostacyclin than the vena cava. The arterial production of prostacyclin was greater in rats weighing 350-400 g than in those weighing 116-152 g, but the production by the veins was similar in both groups.