The present study was designed to test two hypotheses: (1) that angiotensin II (Ang II) stimulates endothelin-1 secretion in cultured rat mesangial cells and (2) that atrial and brain natriuretic peptides (ANP and BNP) inhibit the above-mentioned secretion in these cells. Ang II stimulated immunoreactive (ir) endothelin-1 secretion in a concentration-dependent manner between 10(-8) M and 10(-7) M. The protein kinase C (PKC) inhibitors from two chemical classes, H7 and staurosporine, inhibited secretion following such stimulation. The stimulatory effect of Ang II was also abolished in the PKC-depleted cells. Rat ANP(1-28) and rat BNP-45, which are the respective major circulating forms of ANP and BNP in rats, potently inhibited Ang II-stimulated endothelin-1 secretion in a concentration-dependent manner. Inhibition by ANP and BNP of Ang II-stimulated endothelin-1 secretion was paralleled by an increase in the cellular level of cyclic guanosine 5'-monophosphate (GMP). The addition of a cyclic GMP analogue, 8-bromo cyclic GMP, reduced the stimulated endothelin-1 secretion. Rat ANP(5-25) was less effective that rat ANP(1-28) with respect to inhibiting ir-endothelin-1 secretion and increasing cellular cyclic GMP. These findings indicate that Ang II stimulates endothelin-1 secretion in cultured rat mesangial cells by a mechanism probably involving activation of PKC, and that rat ANP and BNP inhibit this stimulated secretion through a cyclic GMP-dependent process.