Interleukin (IL)-8 elicits neutrophil migration in the early inflammatory response. This action of IL-8 is believed to involve mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase p44/42. In the present study, we used specific inhibitors to investigate the role of p44/42 kinase in stimulating neutrophil migration. The IL-8-guided migration through an imitation of inflammatory matrix, a fibrin gel, was impaired by 90% after treatment with 7 microM U0126, a specific inhibitor of the kinase of p44/42 kinase. Superoxide anion generation induced by high concentrations of bacterial signals was not impaired in the absence of functional p44/42. This anion generation could be decoupled from the p44/42 independency by priming the cells, a pretreatment with IL-8. The addition of U0126 inhibited by 60% the priming and subsequent superoxide anion generation triggered by low concentrations of bacterial signals. An impact on the priming effect and migration of neutrophils was found upon blockade (with wortmannin) of a further kinase event that converges on the p44/42 phosphorylation. Wortmannin blocked phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase and secondarily phosphorylation of p44/42 and of the p44/42-related MAP kinase p38. The overlapping functional consequences of a specific blockade of p38 MAP kinase (applying in vivo anti-inflammatory pyridinyl imidazole) further ascribed a migratory role to those signals culminating in p44/42 MAP kinase phosphorylation, and suggests a role in vivo.