Platelets, when stirred with 3 U thrombin/10(9) platelets, produced significant quantities of palmitoyllysophosphatidic acid (2.17 ng/10(9) platelets), stearoyllysophosphatidic acid (2.11 ng/10(9) platelets), and arachidonoyllysophosphatidic acid (1.06 ng/10(9) platelets). When platelets were pretreated with 100 microM of the phospholipase A2 inhibitor U10029A, there was a significant decrease in thrombin-stimulated production of stearoyllysophosphatidic acid (to 0.16 ng/10(9) platelets), while arachidonoyllysophosphatidic acid production was unchanged. U10029A concomitantly increased thrombin-stimulated production of stearoyl-containing phosphatidic acid species (primarily stearoylarachidonoylphosphatidic acid) from 5.99 to 9.71 ng/10(9) platelets. The results are consistent with the concept that stearoyllysophosphatidic acid production in platelets occurs via phospholipase A2 degradation of phosphatidic acid.