Objective:To explore the effects of Iptakalim on intracellular free calcium concentration and on the proliferation of cultured rabbit pulmonary arterial smooth muscle cells induced by endothelin-1(ET-1) in vitro. Methods:A cell culture model, [3H]-thymidine([3H]-TdR) incorporation test and confocal microscope were used to observe proliferation and intracellular free calcium concentration([Ca2+]i) of rabbit PASMC induced by ET-1 in vitro. Results:The value of [3H]-TdR incorporation in ET-1 group was increased 1.468 times higher than that in control group. Iptakalim at the concentration of 10-7mol/L, 10-6 mol/L ,10-5 mol/L lowered [3H]-TdR incorporation by(19.8±4.6)%, (41.2±9.5)%, (54.7±10.1)%, respectively, compared with the value of the cells treated with ET-1(P＜0.01); The intracellular fluorescence intensity of PASMC in ET-1 group was increased from 73.70±10.12 to 143.84±28.23, significantly higher than that in control group(P＜0.01); whereas with Iptakalim,the fluorescence intensity(FI) was only increased from 74.30±10.20 to 86.03±9.82, significantly lower than that in ET-1 group(P ＜0.01). Conclusion:Iptakalim inhibited proliferation of PASMC and decreased intracellular free calcium concentration of cultured rabbit PASMC induced by ET-1.