Syrian activists have accused President Bashar al-Assad's forces of launching a nerve gas attack on rebel-held districts near Damascus that they said killed almost 500 people.
If confirmed, it would be by far the worst reported use of chemical arms in the two-year civil war.
An opposition monitoring group, citing figures compiled from medical clinics in the Damascus suburbs, put the death toll at 494.
It said 90% of the people had been killed by gas, the rest by bombing and conventional arms.
The rebel Syrian National Coalition said 650 people had been killed.
Leading Syrian opposition figure George Sabra has said the death toll stands at 1,300.
Images, including some taken by freelance photographers and supplied to Reuters, showed scores of bodies laid out on the floor of a clinic with no visible signs of injuries.
Reuters was not independently able to verify the cause of their death.
The Syrian armed forces strongly denied using chemical weapons.
Syrian state television said the accusations were fabricated to distract a team of UN chemical weapons experts, which arrived three days ago.
Western countries called urgently for the inspectors to be dispatched to the scene to investigate the incident.
Women and children among the casualties
Activists said rockets with chemical agents hit the Damascus suburbs of Ain Tarma, Zamalka and Jobar during fierce pre-dawn bombardment by government forces.
The Damascus Media Office monitoring centre said 150 bodies were counted in Hammouriya, 100 in Kfar Batna, 67 in Saqba, 61 in Douma, 76 in Mouadamiya and 40 in Irbib, all suburbs of Damascus.
A nurse at Douma Emergency Collection facility, Bayan Baker, said that many of the casualties were women and children.
"They arrived with their pupils dilated, cold limbs and foam in their mouths. The doctors say these are typical symptoms of nerve gas victims," the nurse said.
The UN team is in Syria investigating allegations that both rebels and army forces used chemical weapons in the past, one of the main disputes in international diplomacy over Syria.
The Swedish scientist leading the team, Ake Sellstrom, said the reports should be looked into, but doing so would require a request from a UN member state.
Saudi Arabia has called for an emergency UN Security Council meeting to discuss the reported attack.
France said the mission in Syria must be sent to the site to "investigate immediately".
Turkey made a similar call. Britain said it was deeply concerned and would raise the issue at the UN Security Council, adding the attacks would be "a shocking escalation" if confirmed.
The European Union has called for a thorough and immediate investigation of the alleged chemical attack.
"We have seen with grave concern the reports of the possible use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime. Such accusations should be immediately and thoroughly investigated," a spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said.
"The EU reiterates that any use of chemical weapons, by any side in Syria, would be totally unacceptable."
A Syrian military officer appeared on state television and said the allegations were untrue, and a sign of "hysteria and floundering" by Mr Assad's opponents.
Information Minister Omran Zoabi said the allegations were "illogical and fabricated".
The head of the opposition Syrian National Coalition said Mr Assad's forces had carried out a massacre.
"This is a chance for the (UN inspectors) to see with their own eyes this massacre and know that this regime is a criminal one," Ahmed Jarba said.
If confirmed, it would also be the worst known use of chemical weapons since Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein gassed thousands of Kurds in the town of Halabja in 1988.
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