To investigate whether GABA/progesterone (P(4)) stimulates PPI breakdown and its role in the acrosome reaction (AR), spermatozoa of guinea pig were preincubated in MCM-LCa(2+) for 5.5 h and then labeled with [(32)P]pi for 1 h. Samples were washed through a three-step gradient Percoll, adjusted to 5x10(7) cells/mL and exposed to 2 mmol/L Ca(2+), 5 micromol/L GABA, 10 micromol/L P(4) and other agents. Lipids were separated by t.l.c. and radioactivity in spots determined by scintillation counting. The AR was assessed by phase-contrast microscopy. The results showed that (i) when spermatozoa were treated with GABA,(32)P-label diminished rapidly in phosphatidylinositol 4, 5-bisphosphate (PIP(2)), phosphatidylinositol 4-phosphate (PIP), and increased in phosphatidic acid (PA). The loss of label from PPI was almost completed by 10 min. The time-course of the AR was much slower than PPI when spermatozoa reached a maximal response by 15 min; (ii) the pattern of PPI hydrolysis and stimulation of AR was similar for the three agonists tested; their potency followed the order A23187>progesterone> or =GABA; (iii) GABA-induced PIP(2) hydrolysis and rise in PA and the AR were prevented by inclusion of 10 mmol/L neomycin; (iv) the loss of PIP(2) labeling and the increase in PA labeling abolished when spermatozoa were exposed to EGTA or Ca(2+) channel blocker. These results indicate that GABA or P(4)-induced PPI breakdown is an important and essential event in the series of changes to membrane fusion during the AR of guinea pig spermatozoa and this effect is mediated via calcium by activation of phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C.