Although much attention has been paid to the effect of endothelin on the bronchopulmonary system, there are few reports concerning the effect of endothelin on Cl- secretion across airway epithelium. We examined the effects of endothelin-1, -2 and -3 on bioelectric parameters of canine tracheal epithelium, a tissue in which Cl- is actively secreted and Na+ is absorbed. Potential difference (PD) and short-circuit current (SCC) were measured using an Ussing chamber with 0.5 cm2 of exposed area, and conductance (G) was calculated by dividing SCC by PD. Luminal endothelin-1 produced transient increases in PD and SCC, returning to baseline values within 5 min after stimulation in a dose-dependent fashion and reached mean responses of 123 and 126% of baseline PD and SCC, respectively, at 10(-6) M of endothelin-1, whereas submucosal endothelin-1 did not alter PD and SCC. G remained unchanged when stimulated by endothelin-1. Endothelin-2 and -3 did not produce any significant alterations in PD and SCC. Endothelin-1 evoked increases in PD and SCC, which were not altered by pretreatment with luminal amiloride (10(-4) M), or by treatment with submucosal propranolol (10(-5) M). Ionic substitution of Cl- with nontransported anions, iodide and gluconate, inhibited endothelin-1-induced increases in PD and SCC. Pretreatment with 10(-5) M indomethacin partially inhibited Endothelin-1-evoked increases in PD and SCC. These findings indicate that endothelin-1 stimulates Cl- secretion partially through the generation of cyclooxygenase products of arachidonic acid.