Insulin and insulin-related growth factor 1 (IGF-1) increase by 1.5-1.6-fold the rate of [3H]leucine incorporation into protein in primary monolayer cultures of chick-embryo fibroblasts (CEF); half-maximal hormone concentrations are 10 and 0.25 nM respectively. To investigate the mechanism of this effect, a rapid method is used to prepare a lysate from CEF which is active in protein synthesis. Lysate derived from cells treated for 30-150 min with insulin synthesized protein at 1.8-3.0-fold greater rate than did controls; the increased rate persisted for 20 min in vitro. Pactamycin (0.5 microM), an inhibitor of peptide-chain initiation, inhibited protein synthesis by 50% in lysates derived from insulin-treated and control cells. Thus insulin and IGF-1 cause an increase in the protein-synthesis rate in vivo, which persists in cell-free protein-synthesizing lysates of CEF.