Late passage cultures of a clonal osteogenic sarcoma line (ROS 17/2.8) failed to respond to PTH with activation of cAMP-dependent protein kinase isoenzymes despite showing a sensitive and dose-dependent increase in cAMP after treatment with the hormone. When cells were treated with hydrocortisone or dexamethasone, protein kinase responsiveness to PTH was readily demonstrated; such treatment also resulted in enhanced cAMP production. Forskolin preincubation resulted in a cAMP response to PTH of similar magnitude to that seen with hydrocortisone but no activation of cAMP-dependent protein kinase occurred. Thus, the effect of glucocorticoid cannot be explained merely by the increased amplitude and sensitivity of the cAMP response which developed with glucocorticoid treatment in these cells. The data indicate that cellular activation of cAMP-dependent protein kinase does not automatically follow cAMP generation and that information transfer can be restored by pharmacological means.