Platelet-activating factor (PAF), a proinflammatory lipid mediator, is a potent airway mucin secretagogue. This study assessed the role of protein kinase C (PKC) in PAF-induced mucin release from primary cultures of feline tracheal epithelial cells (FTEC). Mucin secretion was quantitated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay using a monoclonal antibody raised against airway mucin-type glycoproteins. Coincubation of FTEC with PAF (5 microM) and pharmacologic PKC inhibitors, sphingosine, H7, or calphostin C, inhibited PAF-induced mucin secretion at 30 min. The PKC inhibitors produced a concentration-dependent, noncytotoxic inhibition. Exposure of FTEC with the PKC activator phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA), failed to increase the release of mucin. Stimulation of FTEC with PAF caused a transient increase of membrane-bound PKC activity after 5 min of stimulation. PMA also induced the translocation of PKC activity from the cytosol to the membrane fraction, which was still present after 15 min of exposure. Determination of the specific PKC isozyme(s) involved in PAF-induced mucin release was performed by immunoblot analysis of the subcellular fractions using a battery of antibodies against various PKC isozymes (anti-PKC alpha, beta, delta, gamma, epsilon, and zeta). We found that PKC zeta (mol wt approximately 70 kD) was a major identifiable PKC isozyme present in the cytosolic fraction of FTEC. Furthermore, PKC zeta isozyme was also found to translocate to the membrane fraction following PAF exposure. Thus, these results demonstrate the crucial role of PKC in the intracellular events that culminate in mucin release following PAF stimulation.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)