Upon activation, basophilic granulocytes release inflammatory mediators such as histamine. We studied histamine release of human basophils (64.1 +/- 9.6% pure) after cross-linking of membrane-bound IgE via anti-IgE, or after binding of the chemoattractant formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (fMLP). A variability in the extent of histamine release upon stimulation by either anti-IgE or fMLP was found between donors. Kinetic studies revealed that the histamine release induced by anti-IgE (t1/2 greater than 240 s) was more than 20-fold slower than the almost instantaneous release upon stimulation with fMLP (t1/2 less than 10 s). Differences in the cell activation pathways triggered by these stimuli were further analyzed with staurosporine, an inhibitor of protein kinase C (PKC) and with wortmannin, an inhibitor of a PKC-independent pathway. Inhibition of PKC resulted in a partial inhibition of the anti-IgE-induced release, whereas the fMLP-induced release was slightly potentiated. The anti-IgE-induced release was completely inhibited in the presence of wortmannin. This inhibitor too, had no effect on the fMLP-induced release. We conclude that major differences exist in the signal-response coupling between the anti-IgE and fMLP-induced histamine release in human basophils. The so-called releasability of human basophils may be due to the availability of different cell activation pathways.