The influence of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory octapeptide derived from tuna muscle (tuna AI) on the bovine aorta endothelial cell (BAEC) migration was investigated, as compared with captopril. BAEC migration was quantitated 6 d after release from contact inhibition by a teflon fence assay. The culture grown in the presence of tuna AI (1 and 10 microM) clearly exhibited an increase in migration, compared with the control. The media collected from tuna AI (1 and 10 microM)-stimulated BAECs significantly exhibited the interleukin (IL) -1 activity that was detected by the thymocyte costimulation assay with phytohemagglutinin. Although tuna AI was a weaker ACE inhibitor than captopril, the increasing effect of tuna AI on the migration and the IL-1 generation in BAECs was slightly greater than that of captopril. In quiescent BAECs, tuna AI (1 microM) apparently induced c-myc and platelet derived growth factor (PDGF) A-chain messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) expressions within 30 min, which persisted for 6 h. In contrast, captopril induced a very low expression of c-myc mRNA, and had no relation to PDGF A-chain mRNA expression. These results suggest that the increase of BAEC migration by tuna AI, unlike captopril, is likely related to the induction or activation of IL-1, and c-myc and PDGF mRNAs, in addition to the inhibition of the conversion of endogenous angiotensin I to angiotensin II.