The effects of 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA, an activator of C-kinase), the cation ionophore A23187, forskolin (an activator of adenylate cyclase) and thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) on prolactin release from anterior pituitary cells in primary culture were investigated and compared to the effects of these same agents on prolactin release from GH4C1 cells. In both GH4C1 cells and primary pituitary cultures, 100 nM TRH increased prolactin release 3- to 5-fold within 4 min after the stimulation started. This peak response was followed by a fall to a sustained increased rate of release approximately 1.5-fold above the basal rate. The decline after the early peak was slower in primary cultures than in GH4C1 cells. Addition of 20 microM A23187 to primary cultures caused a rapid 2- to 4-fold increase in release that fell to basal values within 12 min after the stimulation started. In GH4C1 cells, A23187 caused a rise in prolactin release of less than 2-fold that was sustained longer than the rise seen in primary cultures. Perifusion of either type of cells with 50 nM TPA caused a rapid 2- to 2.5-fold increase in release that also was sustained for 30 min or more in both types of cells. Perifusion with combined TPA and A23187 caused a 3- to 5-fold increase in rate of release from each cell type that declined rapidly to a 2-fold sustained release in primary cultures, and that declined more slowly in GH4C1 cells. Forskolin, 1 microM, had only a small effect by itself, but potentiated the effect of TPA or combined TPA and A23187 in both types of cells.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)