The effect of wortmannin on IgG-receptor (FcgammaR)-mediated stimulation of human neutrophils was investigated. The Ca2+ influx induced by clustering of both Fcgamma receptors was inhibited by wortmannin, as was the release of Ca2+ from intracellular stores. Wortmannin also inhibited, with the same efficacy, the accumulation of Ins(1,4,5)P3 observed after FcgammaR stimulation, but did not affect the increase in Ins(1,4,5)P3 induced by the chemotactic peptide, formyl-methionine-leucine-phenylalanine. Because wortmannin is, in the concentrations used here, an inhibitor of PtdIns 3-kinase, these results suggested a role for PtdIns 3-kinase upstream of Ca2+ signalling, induced by FcgammaR cross-linking. Support for this notion was obtained by investigating the effect of another inhibitor of PtdIns 3-kinase, LY 294002, and by studying the kinetics of PtdIns 3-kinase activation. We found translocation of PtdIns 3-kinase to the plasma membrane and increased PtdIns 3-kinase activity in the membrane as soon as 5 s after FcgammaR cross-linking, even before the onset of the Ca2+ response. Moreover, the translocation of PtdIns 3-kinase to the plasma membrane was inhibited by co-cross-linking of either FcgammaRIIa and FcgammaRIIIb with the tyrosine phosphatase, CD45, indicating a requirement for protein tyrosine phosphorylation in the recruitment of PtdIns 3-kinase to the plasma membrane. Taken together, our results suggest a role for PtdIns 3-kinase in early signal transduction events after FcgammaR cross-linking in human neutrophils.