The possibility, that a GTP-binding protein is involved in the transducing mechanism leading to the formation of inositol trisphosphate (InsP3) in heart was explored in rat heart ventricles. Accordingly, a crude membrane fraction was isolated from 3[H] inositol prelabelled rat heart ventricles. When incubated with the non-hydrolysable GTP analogues GTP gamma S and GMP-PNP, it produced InsP3 in a time- and concentration-dependent manner. GDP beta S and the aminoglycoside antibiotic neomycin were effective inhibitors of this activation. In the absence of GTP gamma S or GMP-PNP, no such formation occurred with Ca2+ concentration from 10 nM to 1 microM but formation tripled in relation to the control level when Ca2+ concentration was raised from 1 microM to 100 microM. GTP gamma S increased the Ca2+ sensitivity of InsP3 production towards more physiologically relevant concentrations occurring during diastole (100 nM). These findings strongly suggest the presence in heart of a particulate Ca2(+)-dependent phospholipase C, whose activity is regulated by guanine nucleotides. This Ca2(+)-dependent phospholipase C observed in a cell free system was evidenced also in a multicellular system when altering the free Ca2+ concentrations around the physiological range. The results support the possibility that the enzyme might be activated during each cardiac cycle and thus produce two potential activators of cardiac contraction, namely InsP3 and diglycerides.