Endothelin has been shown to affect a broad range of renal functions, including rat inner medullary collecting duct Na/K ATPase activity, renin release, renal blood flow, and glomerular filtration rate. The source of endothelin in the kidney has been assumed to be endothelial cells. However, the inner medulla contains the highest concentration of immunoreactive endothelin in the kidney. Additionally, MDCK cells, a distal tubule-like cell line, synthesize endothelin. In order to determine if primary renal tubule cells release endothelin, supernatants collected from rat inner medullary collecting duct cells in culture were tested for endothelin-1 detected by specific radioimmunoassay. Inner medullary collecting duct cells produced endothelin-1 in a time-dependent manner, releasing 1,016.7 +/- 60.1 pg of endothelin-1 per mg/cell protein/24 h. Inner medullary collecting duct cells expressed a 2.2-kilobase mRNA on blot hybridization with rat prepro endothelin-1 cDNA. Vasopressin, thrombin, bradykinin, and epinephrine did not affect endothelin-1 release. These data demonstrate endothelin-1 production by inner medullary collecting duct cells and suggest a possible autocrine role for the peptide.