OBJECTIVE To determine if nitric oxide (NO) is involved in the relaxant response to nerve stimulation by nicotine and electrical pulses in dog external ophthalmic arteries (EOA) and internal ophthalmic arteries (IOA). METHODS Changes in isometric tension were recorded in helical strips of the arteries, and the presence of perivascular nerve containing NADPH diaphorase was histochemically demonstrated. RESULTS Nicotine (10(-4) M, EOA and IOA) and transmural electrical stimulation (5 Hz, EOA) produced a slight or no contraction followed by a moderate relaxation in the strips contracted with prostaglandin F2 alpha. The contraction was abolished by alpha-adrenoceptor antagonists. The relaxation was abolished and the contraction was potentiated by NG-nitro-L-arginine (L-NA), a nitric oxide (NO) synthase inhibitor; the relaxation was reversed by L-arginine. Contractile response in L-NA-treated EOA was greater than in the IOA, and the relaxation was less in nontreated EOA. NO-induced relaxation and norepinephrine-induced contraction were not influenced by L-NA. There were plenty of nerve fibers visualized by NADPH diaphorase staining method in the adventitia of EOA and IOA, indicating the presence of NO synthase-containing nerves. CONCLUSIONS The neurogenic relaxation appears to be mediated by NO released from the vasodilator nerve in EOA and IOA. There is a reciprocal innervation in vasodilator nitroxidergic and vasoconstrictor noradrenergic nerves; functionally, the latter is more predominant in EOA than in IOA.