Exposure of NIH 3T3 cells to 375 mM ethanol at 37 degrees C for 20 min could induce a rapid increase in the protein level and cellular activity of oncogenic proline-directed protein kinase FA/glycogen synthase kinase-3 alpha (PDPK FA/GSK-3 alpha), up to approximately 300% of the control level, in a time- and concentration-dependent manner. The maximal inductive effect on PDPK FA/GSK-3 alpha also occurred within 40 min when cells were treated with only 100 mM ethanol. Similarly, exposure of NIH 3T3 cells to 100 microM cadmium for 2 h could induce a rapid increase in the protein level and cellular activity of PDPK FA/GSK-3 alpha, up to approximately 250% of the control level, in a time- and concentration-dependent manner. The maximal inductive effect on this kinase reached within 3 h when cells were treated with only 50 microM cadmium. The results demonstrate that PDPK FA/GSK-3 alpha may not represent a constitutively active/mitogen-inactivated protein kinase as previously conceived. Taken together with the previous report that PDPK FA/GSK-3 alpha is a heat-inducible protein kinase, the results further demonstrate that PDPK FA/GSK-3 alpha may represent a typical cellular stresses-inducible protein kinase subject to early induction by heat, ethanol and cadmium.