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Sixteen dogs were entered into a study of the double subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) model of cerebral vasospasm. Six animals were sacrificed 72 hours after the first experimental SAH, and the remaining 10 animals were killed 72 hours after the second experimental SAH; ten additional animals served as controls. Basilar arteries were rapidly excised from the dogs and frozen. Multiple segments of the frozen arteries were analyzed independently for total protein and 1,2-diacylglycerol (DAG) content, which averaged 3.17 (+/- 0.27 standard error of the mean; SEM) pmol DAG/microgram protein for all 25 arteries analyzed. A slight decreasing trend in DAG content relative to that of control vessels was found in vessels chronically constricted in situ by subarachnoid blood clot; however, this trend did not attain statistical significance. Two segments of the same vessels were assayed independently for protein kinase C (PKC) activity, which averaged 1.21 (+/- 0.08 SEM) pmol phosphate incorporation per minute per microgram protein for all 24 arteries analyzed. A small decrease in PKC content was noted in vessels that experienced a single SAH; however, PKC returned to near control value in vessels subjected to double SAH. The ratio of particulate (membrane bound) to soluble PKC activity, an indicator of PKC translocation to the membrane and hence PKC activation, showed a small but statistically significant trend to increase with experimental SAH.