The present study was carried out to search whether organophosphate pesticides affect the mechanical properties of the thoracic aorta. Wistar fema le rats (aged 6-8 weeks) were assigned randomly to a control group and groups treated with either dichlorvos or chlorpyriphos for 90 days at a dose of 5 mg/kg/day. After that period, animals were killed and thoracic aorta strips in longitudinal direction were isolated. The stress, strain and elastic modulus were obtained from the strips. Our results showed that chronic administration of chlorpyriphos and dichlorvos caused downward shift of the stress-strain relations compared to the control curve. The elastic modulu s-stress curve revealed distinct characterist ics in the low and high stress regions. A power function was used to simulate the low stress region while a line was fit to the high stress region. Curve fitting procedure illustrated that both pesticides influenced mainly the high stress region, but they had diverse effects at the low stress region. The results also imply that chlorpyriphos and dichlorvos decrease the strength of the aorta and therefore might influence the response of the aorta to mechanical loading induced by blood pressure. and B. Guvenc Tuna ... [et al.].