W e recently reported a novel intracellular mechanism of renal Na-K-ATPase regulation by agents that increase cell cAMP, which involves protein kinase A-phospholipase A2 and is mediated by one or more arachidonic acid metabolites (Satoh, T., H. T. Cohen, and A. I. Katz. 1992. J. Clin. Invest. 89:1496). The present studies were, therefore, designed to assess the role of eicosanoids in the modulation of Na-K-ATPase activity in the rat cortical collecting duct. The effect of various cAMP agonists (dopamine, fenoldopam, vasopressin, forskolin, and dibutyryl cAMP), which inhibited the pump to a similar extent (approximately 50%), was independent of altered Na entry as it was elicited in the presence of amiloride or nystatin, or when NaCl was replaced with choline Cl. This effect was completely blocked by SKF 525A or ethoxyresorufin, two inhibitors of the cytochrome P450-dependent monooxygenase pathway, or by pretreating the animals with CoCl2, which depletes cytochrome P450. Equimolar concentrations (10(-7) M) of the cyclooxygenase inhibitors indomethacin or meclofenamate caused only a partial inhibition of the cAMP agonists' effect on the pump, whereas nordihydroguaiaretic acid or A 63162, two inhibitors of the lipoxygenase pathway, were without effect. Furthermore, two products of this pathway, leukotriene B4 and leukotriene D4, had no effect on Na-K-ATPase activity, and ICI 198615, a leukotriene receptor antagonist, did not alter pump inhibition by cAMP agonists. Several P450 monoxygenase arachidonic acid metabolites (5,6-epoxyeicosatrienoic acid; 11,12-epoxyeicosatrienoic acid; 11,12-dihydroxyeicosatrienoic acid; and 12(R)-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid) as well as PGE2 inhibited the Na:K pump in dose-dependent manner, but the effect of PGE2 was blocked when Na availability was altered, whereas that of 12(R)-HETE remained unchanged. We conclude that the cytochrome P450-monooxygenase pathway of the arachidonic acid cascade plays a major role in the modulation of Na:K pump activity by eicosanoids in the rat cortical collecting duct, and that products of the cyclooxygenase pathway may contribute to pump inhibition indirectly, by decreasing intracellular Na.