Nerve growth factor (NGF) stimulation of PC12 cells activates signaling pathways leading to new protein expression and growth of neurites. In wild type PC12 cells, incubation with phorbol ester (PMA) will activate protein kinase C (PKC) leading to the expression of many proteins necessary for neurite outgrowth, but this activation of PKC alone will not stimulate growth of long neurites. Here, we show in the subline of PC12-N09, which lacks NGF-stimulated growth of long neurites, that a brief incubation with PKC activators, PMA or bryostatin 1 (bryostatin), before NGF incubation, stimulates the growth of long neurites. However, incubation in the reverse order is ineffective. A short incubation with PMA or bryostatin followed by NGF induced tyrosine phosphorylation of MAP kinase (MAPK), which is of the same duration as that induced by NGF alone. Thus, PMA preincubation did not increase the length NGF activation of MAPK. Twenty-four hr after incubation with PMA or bryostatin, PKC isoforms were downregulated but PKC isoforms delta-, and epsilon- were still present. In these cells chronically treated with either PMA or bryostatin to downregulate PKC, NGF incubation preceded by PMA preincubation still led to long neurite outgrowth. These results suggest that a PMA or bryostatin incubation followed by NGF activates PKC isoforms delta-, and epsilon-leading to outgrowth of long neurites, and that the PMA signaling is independent of the MAPK pathway.