Using several novel in vitro culture systems, we have examined the tissue-specific regulation of the proglucagon-derived peptides, at the levels of proglucagon gene expression and pGdp synthesis and secretion. Our studies indicate that proglucagon gene expression in intenstine, hypothalamus and pancreas is under the regulatory control of protein kinase A- but not a protein kinase C-dependent pathway. PKA and PKC stimulate secretion of the intestinal pGdp's, whereas only PKA stimulates secretion of the hypothalamic peptides. Pancreatic glucagon secretion in response to PKA is subject to further modulation by prevailing glucose concentrations. This diversity in intracellular regulation of the pGdp's may account for some of the tissue-specific differences in synthesis and secretion of the pGdp's that we have observed in diabetes and during development.