The hypothesis that inositol phospholipid degradation is a step in the mechanism by which epidermal growth factor (EGF) stimulates mitogenesis in confluent monolayers of quiescent BALB/c 3T3 fibroblasts was tested. The maximum mitogenic response (a nearly 30-fold increase in incorporation of [3H]thymidine) occurred at 1 ng/ml EGF (0.16 nM). This degree of stimulation corresponded to 60% of that elicited by 10% serum. To determine whether EGF stimulated formation of inositol phosphates via degradation of polyphosphoinositides, the intracellular levels of [3H] inositol phosphates and [3H]phosphoinositides were determined after EGF addition to BALB/c 3T3 fibroblasts prelabeled with [3H]inositol. These experiments were performed under conditions designed to mimic exactly those conditions used to study mitogenesis. The results demonstrated that 10% serum or 10 ng/ml of platelet-derived growth factor, but not as much as 50 ng/ml EGF or 10 micrograms/ml insulin, increased the levels of inositol phosphates via degradation of phosphoinositides in the presence of 10 mM Li+. The serum-induced effects occurred in 30 s, the earliest time investigated. Phorbol dibutyrate (100 nM), alone or in conjunction with EGF (10 ng/ml), failed to stimulate inositol phospholipid degradation. However, phorbol dibutyrate inhibited the serum-induced stimulation. Finally, fetal bovine serum dialyzed so as to retain peptide mitogens lost almost 70% of the capacity to stimulate degradation of inositol phospholipids while remaining as mitogenic as the control serum. Thus, stimulation of inositol phospholipid degradation is an unlikely component in the mechanism by which EGF and probably insulin and serum stimulate mitogenesis in BALB/c 3T3 fibroblasts.