The mechanism by which angiotensin-II (Ang II) stimulates aldosterone secretion from adrenal glomerulosa cells involves a phospholipase-C-mediated increase in phosphoinositide turnover and diacylglycerol (DAG) production. Because agonist-induced activation of phospholipase-D (PLD) also contributes to elevations in DAG in other cell types, the ability of Ang II to stimulate PLD activity in cultured bovine adrenal glomerulosa cells was examined. Ang II elicited significant increases in the levels of phosphatidic acid and, in the presence of ethanol, of phosphatidylethanol, a more specific marker for PLD activation. The potential role of this increased PLD activity in the regulation of aldosterone secretion was examined by investigating the ability of exogenous PLD to alter secretory rates. PLD alone dose-dependently increased aldosterone secretion from 5.9 +/- 0.5 to 135 +/- 48 pg/min.mg protein. In the presence of the calcium channel agonist Bay K 8644, which by itself had only a modest effect on aldosterone production, the stimulatory action of PLD was enhanced, yielding a secretory rate (442 +/- 119 pg/min.mg protein) that was approximately 60% of that elicited by 10 nM Ang II (763 +/- 182 pg/min.mg protein). Exogenous PLD also induced a significant increase in DAG levels (from 0.76 +/- 0.03 to 1.10 +/- 0.1 nmol/mg protein), which was not altered by the addition of Bay K 8644. However, PLD did not stimulate inositol phosphate production. These data indicate that 1) Ang II activates PLD; 2) exogenous PLD can elevate aldosterone secretory rates and DAG levels without eliciting phosphoinositide hydrolysis; and 3) the stimulatory action of exogenous PLD on aldosterone secretion is enhanced in the presence of Bay K 8644. Thus, PLD-induced DAG production may play an important role in the Ang II-mediated stimulation of aldosterone secretion from the adrenal zona glomerulosa.