The ability of angiotensin peptides to stimulate prostaglandin release and raise intracellular calcium levels by activating a phosphoinositide-specific phospholipase C was assessed in three human astrocytoma cell lines (CRTG3, STTG1, and VVITG2). The addition of angiotensin II to CRTG3 cells resulted in a dose-dependent release of prostaglandin E, and prostacyclin, the production of inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate, and the mobilization of intracellular calcium. Angiotensin-(l-7), previously considered to be an inactive metabolite of angiotensin II, was as potent as angiotensin II for prostaglandin release but did not activate phospholipase C or mobilize intracellular calcium. In contrast, angiotensin-(2-8) caused only a slight increase in prostaglandin release, even though it was as effective as angiotensin II in augmenting inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate production and calcium mobilization. Moreover, neither the release of prostaglandins in response to angiotensin II or angiotensin-(l-7) nor the mobilization of intracellular calcium in response to angiotensin II required extracellular calcium. Angiotensin II and angiotensin-(l-7) caused the release of prostaglandins from all three human astrocytoma cell lines, but changes in the level of intracellular calcium in response to angiotensin II only occurred in CRTG3 cells. Although previous studies have provided evidence for angiotensin receptor subtypes on the basis of selectivity of antagonists or signal transduction mechanisms, these data suggest that human astrocytes contain multiple angiotensin receptor subtypes on the basis of their response to different angiotensin heptapeptides ‐ angiotensin- (1-7) and angiotensin-(2-8). Furthermore, the data also suggest that preferential production of angiotensin-(1-7) and angiotensin-(2-8) may be one level of regulation whereby a particular signal transduction pathway [i.e., calcium mobilization by angiotensin-(2-8) or prostaglandin release by angiotensin-(l-7)] is selectively activated. {Hypertension 1991;18:32-39