Rats that are fed a fructose-rich diet develop hypertension, insulin resistance, and hypertriglyceridemia. To elucidate whether altered expression levels of endothelin-1 and nitric oxide synthase are related to the development of insulin-resistant hypertension, we examined the present study. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were fed a fructose-rich diet for 5 weeks. Systolic blood pressure significantly increased in fructose-fed rats. While serum free fatty acid and plasma nitrite/nitrate levels did not significantly differ between the fructose-fed and control groups, plasma insulin and serum triglyceride concentrations significantly increased in the former. Endothelin-1 mRNA expression in the aorta increased in fructose-fed rats. Neither the protein expression of constitutive nitric oxide synthase nor that of inducible nitric oxide synthase were significantly affected by fructose feeding. However, nitrite/nitrate levels in the aorta were significantly increased. These results suggest that an increase in vascular endothelin-1 is an important contributing factor to the development of hypertension in fructose-fed rats. However, the vascular nitric oxide pathway may not be causally related to the development of fructose-induced hypertension.