Long-term treatment of cultured bovine adrenal medullary chromaffin (BAMC) cells with arachidonic acid (100μM), angiotesnin II (100 nM), prostaglandin E2 (PGE2; 10μM), veratridine (2μM) or KCl (55 mM) for 24 hrs increased both norepinephrine and epinephrine levels in the supernatant. Pretreatment with staurosporine (10 nM), a protein kinase C (PKC) inhibitor, completely blocked increases of norepinephrine and epinephrine secretion induced by arachidonic acid, angiotensin II, PGE2, veratridine or KCl. In addition, K252a, another PKC inhibitor whose structure is similar to that of staurosporine, effectively attenuated both norepinephrine and epinephrine secretion induced by arachidonic acid. However, K252a did not affect the catecholamine secretion induced by angiotensin II, PGE2, veratridine or KCl. Our results suggest that staurosporine may inhibit long-term catecholamine secretion induced by various secretagogues in a mechanism other than inhibiting PKC signaling. Furthermore, long-term secretion of catecholamines induced by arachidonic acid may be dependent on PKC pathway.