Endothelin-1 (ET-1) is known to stimulate phospholipase C (PLC) activity in SK-N-MC human neuroblastoma/epithelioma cells: here we show that phospholipase D(PLD) is also stimulated. The generation of inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (Ins(1,4,5)P 3 ) by ET-1-stimulated PLC was attenuated by protein kinase C (PKC) activation and enhanced by PKC inhibition. An enhancement of ET-1-stimulated Ins(1,4,5)P 3 accumulation was also seen when the product of PLD activity was either diverted into phosphatidyl butanol in the presence of butanol, or phosphatidate phosphohydrolase (PPH) activity was inhibited by dl -propranolol. We conclude that there is an inhibitory, PKC-mediated, feedback loop in these cells which is dependent, in part, on the activation of PKC by product(s) of the PLD/PPH pathway. This provides a novel role for agonist-stimulated PLD activation.