It is hypothesized that inflammatory cytokines and vasoactive peptides stimulate distinct species of diglycerides that differentially regulate protein kinase C isotypes. In published data, we demonstrated that interleukin-1, in contrast to endothelin, selectively generates ether-linked diglyceride species (alkyl, acyl-and alkenyl, acylglycerols) in rat mesangial cells, a smooth muscle-like pericyte in the glomerulus. We now demonstrate both in intact cell and in cell-free preparations that these interleukin-1 receptor-generated ether-linked diglycerides inhibit immunoprecipitated protein kinase C ␦ and ⑀ but not activity. Neither interleukin-1 nor endothelin affect de novo protein expression of these protein kinase C isotypes. As down-regulation of calciuminsensitive protein kinase C isotypes has been linked to antimitogenic activity, we investigated growth arrest as a functional correlate for IL-1-generated ether-linked diglycerides. Cell-permeable ether-linked diglycerides mimic the effects of interleukin-1 to induce a growtharrested state in both G-protein-linked receptor-and tyrosine kinase receptor-stimulated mesangial cells. This signaling mechanism implicates cytokine receptorinduced ether-linked diglycerides as second messengers that inhibit the bioactivity of calcium-insensitive protein kinase C isotypes resulting in growth arrest.Interleukin-1 (IL-1) 1 -induced activation of rat glomerular mesangial cells (MC) culminates in an inflammatory phenotype often observed in vivo in models of glomerulosclerosis. Our laboratory has been investigating the early, lipid-mediated signal transduction pathways for inflammatory cytokines in MC with particular emphasis on the distinct molecular species of diglycerides (DG) generated and their regulation of protein kinase C (PKC) activity. We have demonstrated previously that the inflammatory cytokine interleukin-1␣ and the vasoconstrictor peptide, endothelin-1 (ET-1) generate distinct species of DG from different membrane-associated phospholipids in MC (1-3). IL-1 receptor activation selectively generates etherlinked species of DG, namely alkyl, acyl-and alkenyl, acylglycerols, whereas ET-1 receptor activation produces predominantly ester-linked diacylglycerols (1). Our laboratory has also demonstrated previously that these IL-1 generated etherlinked DG, in contrast to the PKC-activating diacylglycerols, inhibit total PKC activity as well as inhibit diacylglycerolstimulated PKC ␣ activation (1). In fact, ether-linked DG may competitively inhibit PKC activation induced by diacylglycerol species (4). Additional studies support this signaling mechanism, as ether-linked DG fail to activate total PKC activity in vitro or only activate PKC in the presence of pharmacological concentrations of calcium (5-8).In light of these findings, our interest has now turned to regulation by ether-linked DG of specific PKC isotypes. The PKC family now includes 12 distinct isotypes subdivided into three categories (9). The calcium-sensitive conventional PKCs consist of alpha (␣), beta ( 1 ...