Recent reports suggest that epidermal growth factor (EGF) or related peptides may act as local hormones to regulate granulosa cell differentiation. While FSH and GnRH are known to stimulate accumulation of tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA) mRNA in granulosa cells, studies using nonovarian cells have shown stimulation of tPA by EGF. In this study, the effect of EGF and its structural analog transforming growth factor-alpha (TGF alpha) on ovarian tPA mRNA and activity was investigated. Granulosa cells obtained from immature estrogen-treated rats were cultured with FSH or increasing doses of EGF or TGF alpha before analysis of tPA activity using sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis followed by a fibrin overlay technique. Like FSH and GnRH, EGF and TGF alpha stimulated the secretion of tPA activity in a dose- and time-dependent manner (onset, 12 h; maximum, 48 h). Northern blot hybridization of total RNA using a rat cRNA probe for tPA showed the accumulation of a 22S species mRNA in cells treated with EGF or TGF alpha, but not with nerve growth factor, suggesting increased expression of the tPA gene. Furthermore, slot blot hybridization of RNA from these cells confirmed a time-dependent increase in tPA mRNA preceding that in enzyme activity. Cotreatment of a saturating dose of EGF with phorbol myristate acetate (PMA) or GnRH resulted in additive increases in both tPA enzyme activity and mRNA levels. In addition, pretreatment with PMA desensitized the cells to subsequent treatment with PMA or GnRH, but did not diminish EGF-induced tPA mRNA, suggesting that EGF acts through a pathway independent of protein kinase-C. Also, extracellular cAMP levels did not increase with EGF treatment in the presence or absence of a phosphodiesterase inhibitor, suggesting the lack of involvement of the protein kinase-A pathway. Suppression of protein synthesis by cycloheximide inhibited the induction of tPA mRNA by EGF, whereas similar treatment resulted in the superinduction of tPA mRNA in FSH-treated cells, suggesting that EGF and FSH do not share the same pathway. These results suggest that EGF and TGF alpha induce tPA mRNA and activity in granulosa cells through a pathway independent of protein kinases-A (FSH) and -C (GnRH and phorbol ester), providing an interesting model for future elucidation of the molecular mechanism involved in tPA gene expression.