Nitric oxide is a tonically produced vasodilator that maintains blood pressure in the normal animal. The chronic inhibition of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) elicits the hypertension in rats. However, the mechanism of hypertension induced by chronic inhibition of NOS is not clear. Thus, to clarify the mechanism of the occurance of hypertension, the changes in $alpha$-adrenergic systems in rats treated with NOS inhibitors for 21 days were examined. Chronic administration of L-NAME significantly increased in the basal blood pressure, but chronic administration of 7-nitroindazole did not. Phenylephrine and G-protein stimulator elicited the more potent contraction in the aorta of the L-NAME-induced hypertensive rats. However when the contractile responses by phenylephrine and G-protein stimulator were calculated the proportion to the contraction by 25 mM KCL, there was no difference between the vehicle-treated rats and the L-NAME-treated rats. The density of $alpha$-adrenergic receptors in aortic tissue was not changed by the chronic inhibition of NOS. These results suggest that hypertension induced by chronic inhibition of NOS is due to the inhibition of eNOS and the increased responses to the adrenergic drugs are due to the changes of the intracellular contactile mechanism of aortic tissue rather than the changes of receptor density.