The role of vasoreactivity in PAF-induced pulmonary hypertension (PHT) was assessed in isolated, perfused rabbit lungs. We evaluated the steady-state pulmonary vascular response to five vasoconstrictors: PGF2 alpha, norepinephrine, angiotensin II, PAF, and KCl. Pulmonary arterial pressure and pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) were significantly greater in lungs of rabbits treated with PAF for 28 days than in control rabbits in response to PGF2 alpha and norepinephrine. When resistance was partitioned by the vascular occlusion method, at baseline the vascular resistance was equally distributed between arterial and venous segments in both experimental groups. Arterial resistance accounted for approximately 76% of PVR during norepinephrine injection and 60% of PVR during PGF2 alpha injection in PAF-treated lungs. Whereas arterial resistance accounted for approximately 63% of PVR during norepinephrine injection and 52% of PVR during PGF2 alpha injection in control lungs, there was no significant difference in the response to angiotensin II, acute PAF, and KCl in lungs from chronic PAF-treated rabbits compared with responses in control rabbit lungs, though the pressor response to acute PAF tended to be blunted in PAF-treated lungs. Chronic PAF treatment results in enhanced pulmonary arterial reactivity to selected autacoids in isolated perfused lungs.