The mitogenic activity of thrombin on fibroblasts and smooth muscle cells may contribute to embryonic development and normal wound healing, and it may also play a role in pathological responses to vascular injury. To examine the importance of thrombin signaling in vivo and to define the cloned thrombin receptor's role, we disrupted the thrombin receptor gene (tr) in mice. Platelets from tr-/- mice responded normally to thrombin, but tr-/- fibroblasts showed no thrombin-induced calcium mobilization or phosphoinositide hydrolysis. Thus distinct thrombin receptors act in different tissues. This study focuses on the role of the thrombin receptor in thrombin-induced mitogenesis and mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase activation in mesenchymal cells. Thrombin and thrombin receptor agonist peptide both stimulated DNA synthesis and MAP kinase activation in fibroblasts derived from wild-type mice. These responses were selectively lost in fibroblasts from tr-/- mice. Activation of the cloned thrombin receptor is therefore necessary and sufficient for thrombin-induced mitogenesis and MAP kinase activation in mouse lung fibroblasts. The tr-/- mouse thus provides a valuable model for defining the role of thrombin-induced proliferative events in vivo. Because thrombin-induced MAP kinase activation was attributable to a single receptor expressed at natural levels, mouse lung fibroblasts presented an opportunity to define the pathways that normally mediate activation of MAP kinase by the thrombin receptor. Elimination of phorbol-sensitive protein kinase C by prolonged exposure to phorbol ester only partially inhibited MAP kinase activation by thrombin but completely blocked c-Raf kinase activation. Pertussis toxin partially inhibited MAP kinase activation by thrombin but had no significant effect on c-Raf kinase activation. Thus in mouse lung fibroblasts, one thrombin receptor utilizes two pathways for MAP kinase activation: one is protein kinase C- and c-Raf dependent, and a second is Gi-dependent and c-Raf-independent.