The hydrolysis of membrane phosphatidylcholine by the enzyme phospholipase D is a key initial step in the intracellular release of the signalling molecules phosphatidic acid, diacylglycerol and arachidonic acid. Guanine nucleotide-dependent pathway leading to PLD activation were investigated in enzymatically dispersed rat submandibular acinar cells. Guanosine 5'-O-[gamma-thio]triphosphate (GTP gamma S) caused the time- and concentration-dependent stimulation of PLD in permeabilized cells. This effect was lost in prepermeabilized cells, from which cytosolic components had been allowed to leak, but was restored when endogenous cytosol, or cytosol from platelets, was added back to such cells. PLD was also activated in cytosol-depleted cells by GTP gamma S in combination with purified ARF (ADP-ribosylation factor), a low M(r) guanine nucleotide-binding protein of the ras superfamily. Additional evidence for the involvement of ARF in PLD activation was the inhibition of carbachol- or GTP gamma S-induced stimulation of the enzyme by brefeldin A, a blocker of ARF activation; and the observed translocation of ARF from cytosol to membrane on GTP gamma S treatment in permeabilized cells. The heterotrimeric G-protein stimulator, AlFn, also activated PLD, and this response, too, was inhibited by brefeldin A, suggesting the downstream involvement of ARF in coupling AlFn action to phospholipase D elevation. PLD activation caused by both GTP gamma S and AlFn was only partially reduced after treatment of cells with U73122, a demonstrated inhibitor of phospholipase C in the Gq-coupled phosphoinositide signal-transduction pathway. It is therefore proposed that in rat submandibular mucous acinar cells, a guanine nucleotide-regulated PLD activation pathway exists that involves the sequential actions of a G heterotrimeric protein and ARF. It is further suggested that this pathway is independent of the Gq/PLC/phosphatidylinositol signal transduction system.