Previous studies on the mechanism responsible for terminating the generation of second messengers induced by chemotactic factor-receptor complexes have, on one hand, suggested a direct role of a GTP-binding protein(s) (G protein), and, on the other hand, proposed that there is a lateral segregation of the ligand-receptor complexes into G protein-depleted domains of the plasma membrane. In the present investigation, which addresses these apparently contradictory findings, we found that a substantial part of the alpha subunits of the Gn protein (Gn alpha) in unstimulated neutrophils were associated with a cytoskeletal fraction and that release of these subunits occurred upon stimulation with the chemotactic factor fMet-Leu-Phe. An identical Gn alpha release could also be induced by direct activation of G proteins with guanosine 5'-[gamma-thio]triphosphate or AIF4-. In contrast, the alpha subunits of the stimulatory G protein (Gs alpha) also found associated with the cytoskeletal fraction of unstimulated cells were not released by fMet-Leu-Phe stimulation. However, they were effectively released by direct G-protein activation with guanosine 5'-[gamma-thio]triphosphate. In addition, inhibition of the fMet-Leu-Phe-stimulated modulation of the actin network by pertussis toxin did not affect the fMet-Leu-Phe-induced release of Gn alpha from the cytoskeletal fraction. These observations indicate that fMet-Leu-Phe-induced activation of neutrophils involves a specific dissociation of Gn alpha from the cytoskeleton and that this release is not a consequence of the well-known effect of fMet-Leu-Phe on the cytoskeleton of neutrophils. The present data contribute ideas concerning the transducing properties of G proteins in cellular signaling and seem to reconcile the apparently contradictory concepts of how the cytoskeleton participates in the termination of the chemotactic-factor-induced generation of second messengers in human neutrophils.