Short-term stimulation (up to 16 hours) of interleukin-3 (IL-3)-dependent mouse bone marrow-derived mast cells, Abelson transformed mouse liver-derived mast cells, or rat basophilic leukemia cells by either IgE-Ag or calcium ionophore A23187 resulted in inhibition of their proliferation as measured by 3H-thymidine incorporation and MTT (tetrazolium) assays, and in accumulation of the mRNAs of c-fos, c-jun, junB and slightly of junD proto-oncogenes. The involvement of protein kinase C (PKC) in these responses was investigated by using several approaches of enzyme activity regulation. Direct activation of the PKC was achieved by short-term exposure of the cells to the PKC-specific activator phorbol 12-myristate-13-acetate (PMA). Inhibition of PKC activity was obtained by either prolonged treatment of the cells with PMA or by exposure of the cells to the PKC inhibitors H-7 and staurosporine. The results showed the following: (1) Short-term exposure of mast cells to PMA was sufficient to induce inhibition of proliferation. (2) An increase in PKC activity was associated with a decrease in the proliferation of IgE-dinitrophenol (DNP) or calcium ionophore A23187-stimulated cells. (3) A direct correlation was found between the increase in PKC activity and the increase in the level of the mRNAs of the jun proto-oncogenes in cells activated by both stimuli mentioned. (4) While an increase in PKC activity was associated with the upregulation of the level of c-fos mRNA during calcium ionophore A23187 stimulation, it showed the opposite effect on the expression of the mRNA of this proto-oncogene when the cells were triggered by IgE-DNP. Therefore, we concluded that PKC plays various roles in the expression of the mRNA of c-fos in activated mast cells depending on the stimulus involved. In addition, the expression of the mRNA of c-jun and junB proto-onogenes is not coordinately regulated with that of c-fos during immunologic stimulation. This discordancy, which is associated with the increase in PKC activity in mast cells, may play a role in the regulation of the transcription of AP-1-responsive genes, and therefore could be associated with the regulation of proliferation of these cells.