Significant activity of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI 3-kinase) was detected in the membrane fractions, or in the immunoprecipitates prepared with anti-phosphotyrosine antibodies, from rat adipocytes that had been incubated with insulin for 20 min. The PI 3-kinase activity in these preparations as well as in the whole cell lysates of adipocytes not treated with insulin was inhibited by the addition of wortmannin, a fungal metabolite, to the enzyme assay mixture. The inhibition was dependent on the inhibitor concentration with IC50 being less than 10 nM and perfect inhibition at 100 nM. The effect of insulin to induce membrane PI 3-kinase activity was mostly abolished, but its effects to tyrosine-phosphorylate the beta-subunit of the insulin receptor or other cellular substrate proteins including insulin-receptor-substrate-1 were not at all antagonized, by wortmannin added to the cell incubation medium. Insulin stimulation of cellular 2-deoxyglucose uptake and inhibition of isoproterenol-induced lipolysis observable in adipocytes under the same conditions were also antagonized by wortmannin added in the same concentration range as used for the inhibition of insulin-susceptible PI 3-kinase. It is concluded, therefore, that activation of wortmannin-sensitive PI 3-kinase plays a pivotal role in the intracellular signaling pathways arising from the insulin receptor autophosphorylation and leading to certain metabolic responses.