Cardiotoxicity produced by doxorubicin in vivo is considered to be due to a direct effect on the myocardium and this is also a major component with toxicity of isoprenaline and digoxin. In the case of the cardiotoxicity produced at high doses by the antihypertensives hydralazine and pinacidil, an indirect mechanism operating by way of their exaggerated pharmacological effects is believed to be responsible. These compounds were examined for their cardiotoxic potential in vitro using chick myocardial myocyte reaggregate (MMR) cultures; allylamine HCl was used as a positive control. Cultures were incubated for up to 24 hr with each compound; parameters analysed were: spontaneous beating activity (SBA), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) leakage and microscopic evidence of cytotoxicity. Allylamine, doxorubicin, digoxin and to a lesser extent isoprenaline were highly toxic to MMR cultures, as demonstrated by their effects on SBA, LDH leakage and morphology. Hydralazine showed very mild cytotoxicity at the highest concentrations with no LDH leakage; pinacidil was not cytotoxic but showed a dose-related inhibition of SBA. These results confirm the direct toxic action of doxorubicin and digoxin on myocardial cells and indicate that this is also an important mechanism in vivo for isoprenaline. The lack of any significant toxicity with hydralazine and pinacidil accords with an indirect mechanism based on their pharmacology.