The purpose of these studies was to examine the sensitivity of the PIP 2-PLC-transducing pathway (GPLC) and its relationship to the respiratory burst in human polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN) stimulated by IL-8, TNF-alpha, or IL-1 beta during sequential changes in buffer oxygen tension from normoxia (pO2 = 180-200 mm Hg), to hypoxia (pO2 < 30 mm Hg) and then reoxygenation (pO2 > 140 mm Hg). Our specific hypothesis was that altered oxygen tensions would regulate the G PLC pathway in human PMN. G PLC activity was assayed by investigating phospholipase C activity by measuring inositol phosphates and diacylglycerol (DAG) formation. Respiratory burst activity was assayed as O 2 production and NADPH oxidase activation in intact PMN and in a cell-free system, respectively, and correlated separately to both early and late DAG production. At 1 min, DAG formation during normoxia was decreased by IL-8 plus fibronectin while hypoxia had no regulatory effect on control of DAG formation by any of the cytokines. In contrast to early DAG formation, hypoxia significantly downregulated late DAG formation induced by buffer without fibronectin, IL-8 plus fibronectin, and IL-1 beta with or without fibronectin. Hypoxia/reoxygenation in and of itself significantly increased DAG formation vs levels seen in the presence or absence of IL-8, TNF-alpha, or IL-1 beta with or without fibronectin. Changes in early DAG production during the alterations in oxygen tension correlated best with corresponding changes in O 2 production in intact cells, whereas late DAG production correlated best with NADPH oxidase activation assayed in the cell-free system. Thus, changes in oxygen tension can directly modulate the extent of the PMN response to stimulation by IL-8, TNF-alpha, or IL-1 beta and the G PLC-receptor pathway is particularly regulated by physiologically relevant periods of hypoxia/reoxygenation.