1. The present study examined the capacity for adenosine formation, uptake and metabolism in contracting primary rat muscle cells and in microvascular endothelial cells in culture. 2. Strong and moderate electrical simulation of skeletal muscle cells led to a significantly greater increase in the extracellular adenosine concentration (421 +/- 91 and 235 +/- 30 nmol (g protein)-1, respectively; P < 0.05) compared with non-stimulated muscle cells (161 +/- 20 nmol (g protein)-1). The ATP concentration was lower (18%; P < 0.05) in the intensely contracted, but not in the moderately contracted muscle cells. 3. Addition of microvascular endothelial cells to the cultured skeletal muscle cells enhanced the contraction-induced accumulation of extracellular adenosine (P < 0.05), whereas endothelial cells in culture alone did not cause extracellular accumulation of adenosine. 4. Skeletal muscle cells were found to have ecto-forms of several enzymes involved in nucleotide metabolism, including ATPases capable of converting extracellular ATP to ADP and AMP. 5. Adenosine added to the cell medium was taken up by muscle cells and incorporated into the adenine nucleotide pool so that after 30 min of incubation, over 95% of the adenosine label was present in ATP, ADP and AMP. A similar extent of incorporation of adenosine into the nucleotide pool was evident in the endothelial cells. 6. The present data suggest that contracting muscle cells induce an elevation in the extracellular adenosine concentration. Addition of endothelial cells to muscle cells enhances the contraction-induced formation of adenosine. Adenosine taken up by muscle and endothelial cells from the extracellular space is not likely to be used for storage in intracellular pools, but may serve to regulate muscle extracellular adenosine levels.