Recent findings suggest that nitric oxide (NO) is an important biologic mediator which exerts a wide variety of effects on numerous physiological and pathophysiological processes. L-Arginine is oxidized to L-citrulline with concomitant NO production; as a result, nitrate and nitrite accumulates. This study was conducted to determine the potential NO production by proximal tubular cells (PTC) in response to bacterial lipopolysac-charides (LPS) and cytokines and to evaluate the cytotoxic effect associated with NO release. After a 7-day stimulation with LPS (100 micrograms/ml), interleukin-1 beta (IL-1 beta) (10 ng/ml), and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) (10 ng/ml), the nitrate and nitrite levels were determined by a spectrophotometric method based on the Griess reaction. Moreover, alpha-methylglucopyranoside phosphate and lactate dehydrogenase release and the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide assay served as indicators of sodium-dependent hexose transport integrity and cell death, respectively. IL-1 beta and TNF-alpha used alone or together or combined with LPS led to a significant generation of NO by PTC. Our results also demonstrate that NO induced by LPS and cytokines could inhibit sodium-dependent transport and could induce PTC damage.