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1. Several observations suggest that tachykinins are involved in the pathogenesis of bronchopulmonary alterations. We have investigated the effect of antagonists for tachykinin NK1 (SR 140333), NK2 (SR 48968) or NK3 (SR 142801) receptors on inflammatory cell recruitment, tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-α and interleukin (IL)-6 release and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-9 activity in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) of mice exposed to lipopolysaccharide (LPS; 100 µg/mL aerosol for 30 min).2. Treatment of mice with a combination of SR 140333 and SR 48968 (10−6 mol/L, aerosol) significantly reduced the increase in the number of total cells and neutrophils and MMP-9 activity in the BALF of mice 2.5 h after LPS exposure. Treatment with the NK3 antagonist SR 142801 (10−6 mol/L, aerosol) did not inhibit the influx of neutrophils, but markedly reduced the increase in TNF-α and IL-6 levels at 2.5 h and MMP-9 activity at 20 h.3. These results show that the three tachykinin receptor antagonists may interfere with the development of airway inflammation, namely neutrophilia, TNF-α release or MMP-9 activity in the BALF of mice exposed to LPS and suggest that not only NK1 and NK2 receptors, but also NK3 receptors are involved in the modulation of the inflammatory response and airway remodelling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]