Fluid shear stress can stimulate secretion of tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) by cultured human endothelial cells, while plasminogen activator inhibitor type‐1 secretion remains unstimulated. To determine whether hemodynamically induced changes in tPA messenger RNA (mRNA) levels also occur, primary cultures from the same harvst of primary human umbilical vein endothelial cells were either maintained in stationary culture or exposed to arterial levels of shear stress (25 dynes/cm²) for 24 hours. Total cellular RNA was isolated from the shear stressed and stationary cultures and the relative levels of tPA mRNA and glyceraldehyde 3‐phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) mRNA were determined using a coupled reverse transcriptase/polymerase chain reaction method. As indicated by the amount of amplification product, tPA mRNA levels were many fold higher (> 10) in endothelial cells subjected to shear stress for 24 hours than in stationary controls. In contrast, mRNA levels for GAPDH were similar in control and shear stressed cells. The constancy of the measured GAPDH signal indicated that the tPA response was a selective effect of fluid shear stress. When a similar polymerase chain reaction method was used, the mRNA levels of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) were found not to vary in comparison to GAPDH mRNA after 24 hours of shear stress. These results indicate that enhancement of the fibrinolytic potential of endothelial cells in response to hemodynamic forces could involve transcriptional events.