Contraction kinetics of isolated rat tracheal smooth muscle were studied by analysing the increase of force subsequent to force-inhibiting passive length changes lasting 1 s (100 Hz, sinus, 5% of muscle length). Compared with carbachol activation, phorboldibutyrate (PDBu)-induced stimulation of protein kinase C (PKC) demonstrated no significant difference in the extent of force development in the polarized preparation [mean peak force 9.16 +/- 0.37 mN (carbachol) vs. 9.12 +/- 0.37 mN (PDBu)]. However, the time constant calculated for the slow component of post-vibration force recovery was 6.40 +/- 0.29 s after addition of PDBu vs. 22.39 +/- 1.40 s during carbachol activation, indicating a significant phorbol ester-induced acceleration of the cross-bridge cycling rate. In the K-depolarized preparation, treatment with 26.4 microM indolactam (IL) to activate PKC produced muscle relaxation (9.94 +/- 0.16 mN measured 0-30 min after the onset of depolarization vs. 4.13 +/- 0.05 mN measured during 30-60 min of IL treatment). Again, even in the presence of high sarcoplasmic Ca2+ resulting from tonic depolarization, PKC activation was associated with a distinct diminution of the time constant (25.99 +/- 0.79 s during the first 30 min of depolarization vs. 10.32 +/- 0.21 s during 30-60 min of IL treatment). In contrast, addition of 0.035 microM verapamil, 1.5 microM isoproterenol, and 32 microM dibutyryl-cAMP to the bathing medium induced relaxation without affecting the rate of post-vibration force recovery. The results suggest that the calcium-dependent signal cascade (agonist receptor/inositol trisphosphate/ Ca(2+)-calmodulin/myosin light chain kinase) hardly affects the regulation of contraction kinetics in the tonically activated intact smooth muscle preparation. PKC stimulation, however, accelerates actin/myosin interaction kinetics, possibly by inhibition of phosphatase(s).