Bovine aortic medial tissue and medial smooth muscle cells were demonstrated for the first time to synthesize a latent collagenase together with collagenase inhibitor in culture. Molecular weights of the latent collagenase and its inhibitor derived from aortic medial tissue explant were estimated to be about 52 K by gel filtration and 26.5 K by electrophoresis, respectively. Activated aortic collagenases cleaved type I collagen in solution into 3/4 (alpha A) and 1/4 (alpha B) length cleavage fragments and were inhibited by EDTA, o-phenanthroline, dithiothreitol, bovine serum, and highly purified dental pulp and aortic collagenase inhibitors. The aortic inhibitors showed inhibitory activity against all the animal collagenases tested, except for bacterial collagenase. Double-immunodiffusion analysis using a monospecific antiserum prepared against dental pulp inhibitor showed that the aortic inhibitors are immunologically identical to the pulp inhibitor. Using the same antiserum, we found immunoreactive collagenase inhibitor protein to be localized along the collagen fibers between elastic membranes in aortic medial tissue.