Stimulation of thymidine incorporation by basic fibroblast growth factor or epidermal growth factor treatment of cultured quiescent smooth muscle cells (rat and human) was attenuated by the concomitant treatment with interleukin-1 beta in the presence of indomethacin. Platelet-derived growth factor-AB and -BB-induced thymidine incorporation was not inhibited by the presence of the cytokine under similar experimental conditions. Elevation of nitrite levels in the conditioned medium of cultures exposed to interleukin-1 beta correlated with the inhibition of thymidine incorporation. Platelet-derived growth factor-AB and -BB inhibited the production of nitric oxide (measured as nitrite levels in conditioned medium) by cells treated simultaneously with interleukin-1 beta and growth factor. However, platelet-derived growth factor-AA neither affected nitrite production nor thymidine incorporation by smooth muscle cells. Levels of cytokine-stimulated nitrite production by smooth muscle cells were increased synergistically by the presence of fibroblast growth factors or epidermal growth factor. The inhibition of thymidine incorporation and concomitant elevation of nitrite production was abolished in the presence of nitro-L-arginine. Cultures maintained in the presence of low levels of the cytokine for 9 days were growth-inhibited, and this was reversed when culture medium was supplemented with nitro-L-arginine. The treatment of smooth muscle cells, which were grown in coculture inserts with the cytokine to induce nitric oxide production, before their combination with other quiescent layers of cells resulted in the inhibition of thymidine incorporation by this second layer of cells regardless of the growth factor used for stimulation. Nitric oxide may act as an endogenous inhibitor of smooth muscle cell proliferation in the vessel wall, and impairment of its production may be one action of potent vascular mitogens such as platelet-derived growth factor.