The regulation of glycogenolysis in human muscle during epinephrine infusion has been investigated. The content of cAMP in resting muscle was 2.7 +/- 0.7 (SD) mumol . kg dry muscle-1 and increased threefold during the first 5 min of infusion. Total glycogen phosphorylase and glycogen synthase activities were unchanged during the infusion. The proportion of phosphorylase in the a form in the basal state was estimated to be at least 22.5% and during infusion 80-90%. During infusion, synthase I activity decreased. The muscle glycogen content was 340 mmol . kg dry wt-1 and decreased during the first 2 min of infusion at a rate of 11.0 mmol glycosyl units . kg dry wt-1 . min-1. Prolonged infusion resulted in a much lower glycogenolytic rate, even though most of the phosphorylase was still in the a form. Accumulation of hexose monophosphates and lactate followed the changes in glycogen. It was concluded that despite the almost total transformation of phosphorylase to the a form, the in vivo activity was maintained at a low level. It is suggested that this may be due to a low concentration of inorganic phosphate at the active site of the enzyme.