We examined whether tumour necrosis factor (TNF) or transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGF-beta 1) could alter the course of collagen-induced arthritis (CIA). Injection of 100 ng TNF or 500 ng TGF-beta 1 into ankle joints of normal rats induced a very limited inflammatory response, observable only upon histological analysis. However, when injected into ankle joints of rats 9 days after immunization with bovine type II collagen (CII), identical doses of TNF or TGF-beta 1 induced a sustained, clinically obvious inflammation and oedema that began within 8 h on average, as compared to 90 h in CII-immunized control rats given no injections or intra-articular injections of buffer. The incidence of arthritis at 2 weeks post-immunization was 100% for TNF-injected hindpaws, compared with 55% for the control groups, a statistically significant difference. In rats passively immunized with a subarthritic dose of affinity purified antibody to rat-CII, intra-articular injection of 100 ng TNF or 500 ng of TGF-beta 1 also induced intense, though transient arthritis. The rapid proinflammatory effects in CIA described in this study and the synergy demonstrated between anti-CII IgG and either cytokine, suggest that these cytokines can participate locally in the pathogenesis of arthritis.