The tyrosine phosphorylation responses initiated in human neutrophils by soluble and particulate agonists were characterized. Chemotactic factors, hematopoietic growth factors, and inflammatory microcrystals stimulated in a time- and concentration-dependent manner the tyrosine phosphorylation of distinct patterns of substrates: pp120, pp85, pp70, and pp60 in the case of chemotactic factors; pp155, pp130, pp120, pp85, pp60, and pp40 in the case of granulocyte macrophage-CSF; and pp130, pp120, pp70, and pp60 in the case of monosodium urate (MSU) crystals. Several of the single bands on one-dimensional blots (including pp40, pp70, and pp120) could be resolved into multiple spots on two-dimensional gels. The responses of several other chemotactic factors resembled those of FMLP. Cytokineplasts retained the capacity to respond to FMLP, granulocyte-macrophage-CSF, or MSU crystals with a stimulation of tyrosine phosphorylation, and contained the major substrates detected in intact neutrophils. Several unrelated tyrosine kinase inhibitors (herbimycin A, genistein, and erbstatin) strongly diminished the tyrosine phosphorylation response to chemotactic factors. Pertussis toxin abrogated the tyrosine phosphorylation response to FMLP, whereas protein kinase C (Ro 21-8220, chelerithryn) inhibitors were without effect. Chelation of intracellular calcium attenuated the tyrosine phosphorylation response to FMLP. These results indicate that G proteins play a crucial role in the coupling of chemotactic factor receptors to tyrosine phosphorylation and that this coupling occurs in parallel to that of phospholipase C. These results also underline the complexity of the transduction pathways implicated in the initiation of tyrosine phosphorylation.