The effect of bezafibrate on cytosolic fatty-acid-binding-protein (FABPc) production along the small intestine has been investigated in mice. This drug increased the intestinal fatty-acid-binding-protein (I-FABPc) and liver fatty-acid-binding-protein (L-FABPc) mRNA levels in the duodenum. The extents of induction in the duodenum and in the liver are similar. However, the degree of stimulation gradually decreases along the length of the gut, no effect being found in the ileum. An efficient absorption of this drug as early as the proximal part of the small intestine may explain this phenomenon. The L-FABPc gene is silent in terminal ileum of mice, but a direct infusion of bezafibrate into the ileum switches it on. We used this original model to follow the time course of induction of the L-FABPc gene by bezafibrate. L-FABPc mRNA was first detected 4 h after fibrate infusion, reached a maximum level at 16 h and subsequently decreased at 24 h. This induction was totally blocked by cycloheximide. Sunflower oil also caused small increases in the L-FABPc mRNA levels. The transcriptional origin of the induction triggered both by bezafibrate and sunflower oil was demonstrated by run-on assays. These data indicate that (a) the transcription of the L-FABPc gene is induced by bezafibrate via de novo protein synthesis and (b) components of sunflower oil can transcriptionally activate the L-FABPc gene. Our results also demonstrate that the mouse terminal ileum is a useful system for studying the regulation of L-FABPc gene expression both in vivo and in vitro.