Protein kinase C from a number of areas of rat central nervous tissue was resolved into three distinct fractions upon hydroxyapatite column chromatography. One of the enzyme fractions, designated type II, could be further distinguished into two subspecies with polyclonal antisera, which were raised against synthetic peptides specific for the predicted amino acid sequences of two alternative cDNA clones encoding this enzyme type. Using a combination of these biochemical and immunological techniques, the relative activity of the multiple subspecies of protein kinase C was assessed for each brain area. A distinct regional pattern of expression was found, which per se may be an important factor in determining the response of different neuronal cell types to extracellular stimuli.