Effects of NG-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME; an inhibitor of nitric oxide (NO) synthase) and/or L-arginine (substrate of NO synthase) on pulmonary metastasis of murine melanoma and Lewis lung carcinoma cells were investigated. L-NAME, L-arginine or both L-NAME and L-arginine was injected i.p. into mice 5, 3, and 1 h before and 1, 3, 5, and 7 h after the injection of tumor cells into mice via a tail vein. The administration of L-NAME (9.3 mumol/mouse) alone or L-arginine alone (46.5 or 186 mumol/mouse) potentiated pulmonary metastasis of highly and poorly metastatic B16 melanoma cells. L-NAME alone also increased the number of pulmonary metastasis of Lewis lung carcinoma cells, but L-arginine (185 mumol/mouse) did not. However, the combination of L-NAME and L-arginine increased the number of pulmonary metastasis of both the melanoma and Lewis lung carcinoma cells synergistically. L-NAME or L-arginine administration enhanced the retention of B16 melanoma cells in the lungs examined 24 h after the tumor cell injection. Synergistic effect of L-NAME and L-arginine was also seen in the tumor cell retention. The present results suggest that the metastatic potentials of the tumor cells do not simply correlate to NO production in vivo.