Vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) are exposed to hormonal and mechanical stress in vivo. Hormonal factors have been shown to affect hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α). How mechanical stress affects the regulation of HIF-1α in VSMCs has not been reported previously, and therefore we sought to investigate the regulation of HIF-1α by cyclical mechanical stretch in cultured rat VSMCs. Rat VSMCs grown on a flexible membrane base were stretched by vacuum to 20% of the maximum elongation at 60 cycles/min. The levels of HIF-1α protein began to increase as early as 2 h after stretch was applied and reached a maximum of 2.8-fold over the control by 4 h. Real-time PCR showed that the levels of HIF-1α mRNA increased 2.1-fold after cyclical stretch for 4 h. Cyclical mechanical stretch also increased the immunohistochemical labelling of HIF-1α in VSMCs after cyclical stretch for 4 h. The phosphorylation of p42/p44 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAP kinase) increased after stretch and this was inhibited by the MAP kinase kinase inhibitors PD98059 and U0126. PD98059 and U0126 also blocked HIF-1α gene expression induced by cyclical stretch. In conclusion, cyclical mechanical stretch activates the gene expression of HIF-1α in cultured VSMCs and this mechanical effect is possibly mediated by the p42/p44 MAP kinase kinase pathway.