Models of pulmonary edema have been used to study the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) characteristics of lung water. Several investigators have measured changes in the relaxation times in the permeability type of pulmonary edema, but relatively few have measured relaxation times in the hydrostatic type of pulmonary edema. In this study we determined the characteristics of NMR relaxation times T1, T2 (Hahn spin-echo decay) and water content in acute hydrostatic pulmonary edema induced by noradrenaline administration in rats. Changes in T1 and T2 showed a significant prolongation in hydrostatic pulmonary edema. T2 decay curves for peripheral lung tissues were multiexponential and fit two components [T2 fast (T2f) and T2 slow (T2s)]. With two-component T2 analysis, T2s showed greater prolongation than did T2f. The increase in T2s was significantly correlated with an increase in water content, but the increase in the T2f value was not correlated with water content or with a change in T2s. The T2s component, which likely reflected changes in interstitial water, was more closely related than the T2f component to an increase in water content in hydrostatic pulmonary edema. Results suggested that regional changes in hydrostatic pulmonary edema may be evaluated by multicomponent T2 analysis.