Nitric oxide (NO) reacts with heme-containing enzymes, including certain isoforms of cytochrome P450. Cytochrome P4502E1 (CYP2E1) is induced by ethanol and plays an important role in the toxicity of ethanol and other hepatotoxins. CYP2E1 is also very effective in generating reactive oxygen intermediates such as superoxide radical and H2O2, oxidizing ethanol to the 1-hydroxyethyl radical, and has a high NADPH oxidase activity. The effect of NO on CYP2E1 catalytic activity and generation of reactive oxygen intermediates was evaluated. Incubating liver microsomes isolated from rats treated with pyrazole to induce high levels of CYP2E1, with gaseous NO or NO released from a variety of NO donors such as SNAP, DEA/NO, spermine/NO, and GSNO, resulted in a loss of CYP2E1 catalytic activity with specific substrates such as p-nitrophenol or dimethylnitrosamine. Trapping of NO with hemoglobin resulted in protection of CYP2E1 activity against the inactivation by NO. There was no effect by analogues of the donors which do not release NO nor was there any effect by NO on NADPH-cytochrome P450 reductase activity. Inactivation of CYP2E1 by NO was not prevented by superoxide dismutase or catalase, suggesting that superoxide, H2O2, or peroxynitrite were not responsible for the actions of NO. The inactivated CYP2E1 was not degraded nor did it lose its epitope sites as shown by Western blot analysis. Associated with loss of CYP2E1 catalytic activity was a decrease in the formation of superoxide radical and H2O2, in microsomal lipid peroxidation catalyzed by low, but not high concentration of iron, and in consumption of NADPH. Oxidation of ethanol to the 1-hydroxyethyl radical was also inhibited by NO. ESR experiments indicated the formation of stable heme-NO complexes with CYP2E1. NO appears to compete with O2 and CO for binding to CYP2E1 as incubation with gaseous NO, or NO donors inhibited formation of the characteristic CO binding spectrum of P450. Microsomes isolated from a stably transfected HepG2 cell line expressing only CYP2E1 were also inactivated by NO, validating interaction of NO with this isoform of P450. These results indicate that NO inhibits CYP2E1 catalytic activity and generation of reactive radical intermediates. NO may prevent toxicity of agents which require bioactivation by P450 isoforms such as CYP2E1 and in generation of reactive intermediates by CYP2E1.