Involvement of a cyclic GMP pathway in signal transduction stimulated by endothelins (ETs) and sarafotoxins (SRTXs) was explored using rat cerebellar slices. These peptides activated the same receptor binding sites (ET-1 and SRTX-b at the picomolar sites; ET-3 and SRTX-c at the nanomolar sites) to produce cyclic GMP, but their signaling pathways differed. The endothelins (ET-1 and ET-3) were found to signal via nitric oxide formation and to involve pertussis toxin-sensitive G-protein(s). The SRTXs (b and c), while also stimulating cyclic GMP production, did so via a pathway which is not L-arginine-dependent, i.e., carbon monoxide formation, and did not involve pertussis-toxin-sensitive G-protein(s). This is the first demonstration that the signaling pathways of endothelins and sarafotoxins may differ, even though they share the same binding sites.