Arachidonic acid is the precursor of several potent derivatives that regulate physiological functions in the cardiovascular system. Thromboxane (TXA2) and prostacyclin (PGI2) are synthesized by the cyclooxygenase enzyme. The proaggregatory and vasoconstrictive TXA2 produced by platelets is opposed in vivo by the antiaggregatory and vasodilating activity of PGI2 synthesized by blood vessels. Arachidonic acid is also converted via a 5-lipoxygenase to leukotrienes, the vasoconstrictive components of SRSA. We have shown that this latter pathway is regulated by 15-HETE, a product of the 15-lipoxygenase present in lymphocytes. Confluent cultures of rat aorta smooth muscle cells (RSM) were superfused briefly with [14C]arachidonic acid. The products were isolated and analyzed by thin-layer chromatography-radioautography, high performance liquid chromatography, and gas-liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. Prostacyclin (PGI2) was identified as the major product both by its biological properties in a platelet aggregation assay and by the mass spectrum of its tetra-trimethylsilylether-methyl ester derivative. Minor quantities of PGE2, PGD2, and PGF2 alpha were also synthesized. Three other compounds with chromatographic properties of mono-hydroxy eicosanoic acids were also formed in major amounts. These were shown to be cyclooxygenase products since their synthesis, together with that of prostacyclin, was blocked by the cyclooxygenase inhibitors aspirin (0.2 mM) and indomethacin (10 microM). Quantities of the hydroxy-eicosanoids were isolated from large scale incubations by silicic acid chromatography. Following methylation and reduction with platinum oxide/H2, the compounds were converted to their trimethylsilylether derivatives and analyzed by gas-liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. The compounds were identified as 11-hydroxy-5,8,12,14-eicosatetraenoic acid (11-HETE), 15-hydroxy-5,8,11,13-eicosatetraenoic acid (15-HETE), and hydroxy-5,8,10-heptadeca-trienoic acid (HHT) by simultaneous ion monitoring of characteristic ions at M/e ratios of 287, 258, 229 for 11-HETE and 343, 314, 173 for 15-HETE, and by comparison with the mass spectra of authentic samples. Rat smooth muscle cells, prelabeled by 24-hour incubation with [14C]arachidonic acid, released large amounts of prostacyclin together with enhanced amounts of 11- and 15-HETE in response to physiological levels of thrombin (0.5-5 units/ml). These experiments demonstrate that, in addition to the thromboxane antagonist prostacyclin, vascular smooth muscle cells produce significant quantities of the leukotriene inhibitor 15-HETE via the cyclooxygenase pathway in response to physiological stimuli such as thrombin. The release of both prostacyclin and 15-HETE by vascular smooth muscle cells may thus play an important role in vascular homeostasis.