1 Histamine, acting on H 1 -receptors, caused a Ca 2+ -dependent inhibition of forskolin-and isoprenaline-induced cyclic AMP accumulation in monolayers of human U373 MG cells (IC 50 1.3+0.3 mM, maximum inhibition 66+3%). The inhibition was not reversed by the protein kinase inhibitor K-252A. 2 Thapsigargin also inhibited cyclic AMP accumulation (IC 50 6.0+0.3 nM, maximum inhibition 72+1%). In the absence of extracellular Ca 2+ 5 mM thapsigargin caused only a 12+2% inhibition of cyclic AMP accumulation. 3 The inhibitory eect of 100 nM thapsigargin on forskolin-stimulated cyclic AMP accumulation was blocked by La 3+ (best-®t maximum inhibition 81+4%, IC 50 125+8 nM). In contrast, the inhibitory action of 10 mM histamine was much less sensitive to reversal by 1 mM La 3+ (33+5% reversal, compared with 78+6% reversal of the inhibition by thapsigargin measured concurrently). However, in the presence of both thapsigargin and histamine the inhibition of cyclic AMP accumulation was reversed by 1 mM La 3+ to the same extent as the inhibition by thapsigargin alone. 4 Thapsigargin (5 mM)+1 mM La 3+ caused only a 20+1% inhibition of histamine-stimulated phosphoinositide hydrolysis. 5 There was no indication from measurement of intracellular Ca 2+ of any persistent La 3+ -insensitive Ca 2+ entry component activated by histamine. 6 The results provide evidence that Ca 2+ entry is required for the inhibition by histamine and thapsigargin of drug-induced cyclic AMP accumulation in U373 MG astrocytoma cells. The dierential sensitivity of the inhibitory action of the two agents to block by La 3+ suggests that more than one pathway of Ca 2+ entry is involved.