Previous studies from this laboratory have demonstrated a critical role of cytosolic phospholipase A 2 (cPLA 2 ) and arachidonic acid in angiotensin II (Ang II) AT2 receptor-mediated signal transduction in renal epithelium. In primary proximal tubular epithelial cells exposed to hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ), both the selective cPLA 2 inhibitors and the cPLA 2 antisense oligonucleotides significantly attenuated H 2 O 2 -induced arachidonic acid liberation and activation of p38 SAPK , ERK1/2, and Akt1. This H 2 O 2 -induced kinase activation was significantly attenuated by a Src kinase inhibitor PP2, or by transient transfection of carboxyl-terminal Src kinase (CSK) that maintained Src in the dormant form. Under basal conditions, Src coimmunoprecipitated with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), while H 2 O 2 increased EGFR phosphorylation in the complex. We observed that inhibition of EGFR kinase activity with AG1478 significantly attenuated H 2 O 2 -induced p38 SAPK and ERK1/2 activation, but did not inhibit Akt1 activation. Furthermore, it seems that p38 SAPK is upstream of ERK1/2 and Akt1, since a p38 SAPK inhibitor SB203580 significantly blocked H 2 O 2 -induced activation of ERK1/2 and Akt1. Interestingly, overexpression of the dominant-negative p38 SAPK isoform α inhibited ERK1/2 but not Akt1 activation. Our observations demonstrate that in these nontransformed cells, activation of cPLA 2 is a converging point for oxidative stress and Ang II, which share common downstream signaling mechanisms including Src and EGFR. In addition, p38 SAPK provides a positive input to both growth and antiapoptotic signaling pathways induced by acute oxidative stress.