Quantitation of 1,2-diacylglycerol (AAG), 1-0-alkyl-2-acylglycerol (EAG) and phosphatidic acid (PA) was conducted in polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN) labeled with 1-0-[3H]alkyl-2-acyl-GPC following stimulation with 1 microM fMLP using Coomassie blue staining and densitometry. At 5s AAG and PA increased by 80% and 107%, respectively, over controls. The accumulation of PA, which reached a maximum by 30s, was higher than AAG by 302% at 5s, and 550% at 30s. EAG accumulation was delayed by 15s following stimulation of PMN. These results show that AAG accumulates before EAG and support the role of AAG in cellular activation, perhaps, via the stimulation of protein kinase C (PKC). EAG may serve to counter the effects of AAG or may itself elicit responses. The high concentrations of PA which accumulate early suggest that PA may be generated by the activation of phospholipase D in PMN stimulated with fMLP.