When human 1321 N1 astrocytoma cells were labelled to steady state with [3H]inositol and briefly with [32P]orthophosphate, a compound which contained both radiotracers and which co-migrated with phosphatidylinositol-myo-inositol 4-phosphate during t.l.c. could be extracted in acidic chloroform/methanol. Treatment with methylamine under conditions which lead to deacylation of conventional glycerophospholipids yielded a water-soluble moiety which was labelled with both radioisotopes and was eluted from an anion-exchange h.p.l.c. column with a retention time similar to, but distinct from, that of glycerophosphoinositol 4-phosphate. Experiments using sodium periodate and selective phosphatase enzymes to degrade this compound systematically generated a series of products which suggested the structure of the parent phospholipid was phosphatidyl-myo-inositol 3-phosphate (PtdIns3P). PtdIns3P is metabolically closely related to the pool(s) of inositol phospholipid(s) that serves as substrate(s) for an agonist-sensitive phosphoinositidase C, as the levels of PtdIns3P fell significantly when 1321 N1 cells were stimulated with carbachol. The relative rate of turnover of the inositol moiety of PtdIns3P is similar to that of both of the major polyphosphoinositides and significantly higher than that of total cellular phosphatidyl-myo-inositol. This suggests that all three polyphosphoinositides are synthesized from a common, rapidly metabolized, pool of phosphatidyl-myo-inositol.