Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were orally administered with NG-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME), which inhibits or blocks the production of nitric oxide from L-arginine in vascular endothelial cells and vessel tissue. We examined the effects of nitric oxide on some physiological changes such as blood pressure and heart rate, and confirms the apoptosis induced by the suppressed nitric oxide activity in the kidney. This study was performed to investigate correlation between the activities of nitric oxide and apoptosis by immunohistochemical changes of apoptotic control proteins with regulated chronic inhibition of nitric oxide. In the kidney from L-NAME-treated group, immunohistochemical reaction to the antigens of apoptosis inhibiting proteins such as bcl-2 and bcl-xL, exhibited a time-dependent reduction. The expression of apoptosis-inhibiting proteins such as bax and p53 increased expression in proportion to the duration of treatment. The most sensitive apoptosis regulating proteins to L-NAME were p53 in stimulation and bcl-2 in inhibition, respectively.