Dexamethasone inhibits lipopolysaccharide-induced synthesis of the cytokine, interleukin-1 beta, in cerebrospinal fluid of patients with bacterial meningitis. Along with monocytes, astrocytes are capable of producing lipopolysaccharide-induced interleukin-1 beta in the central nervous system. The objective of this study was to investigate the induction of interleukin-1 beta mRNA by lipopolysaccharide, and the inhibition of this process by dexamethasone, in human astrocytes using the astrocytoma cell line U-373MG as a model system. Dexamethasone-mediated inhibition of induction of interleukin-1 beta mRNA by lipopolysaccharide required a functional glucocorticoid receptor. In contrast to monocytes, lipopolysaccharide induction of interleukin-1 beta mRNA in U-373MG cells required de novo protein synthesis. Dexamethasone also had no effect on lipopolysaccharide-induced interleukin-1 beta transcriptional initiation in U-373MG cells. U-373MG cells were similar to monocytes, however, with respect to the ability of dexamethasone to decrease interleukin-1 beta mRNA half-life. These findings demonstrate that the mode of lipopolysaccharide induction of interleukin-1 beta mRNA, and inhibition of this process by dexamethasone, can vary in different cell types.