Human colonic mucosa obtained from colon cancer resections ('normal') and from colectomies owing to ulcerative colitis (inflamed) were cultured for up to 48 h in vitro. The 3H-leucine incorporation in normal tissue decreased to 52% (p less than 0.001) at 48 h compared with 24 h. The protein synthesis in normal but not in inflamed explants was significantly (p less than 0.01) improved at 48 h, reaching 72% of the 24-h value, on additions of insulin and the protease inhibitors aprotinin, soyabean trypsin inhibitor, and N alpha-tosyl-L-lysine chloromethyl ketone to the culture medium. Inflamed tissue had significant protein losses of 15% after 24 h and 29% after 48 h in culture, and the excretion of precipitable 3H-leucine-labelled proteins could be as high as 20%/24 h. A slight protein loss was observed in normal tissue after 48 h in culture, but the excretion of labelled proteins was very low (3%). The prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) production in both normal and inflamed tissue displayed an increasing non-linear pattern with time in culture, with higher values for inflamed tissue. The PGE2 release profiles and the differences in basic protein metabolism between normal and inflamed human colonic biopsy specimens in culture might reflect important characteristics of the inflammatory process.