In order to investigate the regulation of presynaptic phospholipase D (PLD) activity by calcium and G proteins, we established a permeabilization procedure for rat cortical synaptosomes using Staphylococcus aureus alpha-toxin (30-100 microg/ml). In permeabilized synaptosomes, PLD activity was significantly stimulated when the concentration of free calcium was increased from 0.1 microM to 1 microM. This activation was inhibited in the presence of KN-62 (1 microM), an inhibitor of calcium/calmodulin-dependent kinase II (CaMKII), but not by the protein kinase C inhibitor, Ro 31-8220 (1-10 microM). Synaptosomal PLD activity was also stimulated in the presence of 1 microM GTPgammaS. When Rho proteins were inhibited by pretreatment of the synaptosomes with Clostridium difficile toxin B (TcdB; 1-10 ng/ml), the effect of GTPgammaS was significantly reduced; in contrast, brefeldin A (10-100 microM), an inhibitor of ARF activation, was ineffective. Calcium stimulation of PLD was inhibited by TcdB, but GTPgammaS-dependent activation was insensitive to KN-62. We conclude that synaptosomal PLD is activated in a pathway which sequentially involves CaMKII and Rho proteins.