Chronic exposure of pancreatic -cells to saturated fatty acids leads to loss of viability, an effect that has been implicated in the process of -cell 'lipotoxicity' associated with the progression of type 2 diabetes. The mechanisms involved are unknown but recent evidence has implicated the isoform of protein kinase C (PKC ) in mediating fatty acid toxicity. We have investigated this proposition in the clonal insulin-secreting cell line, BRIN-BD11. BRIN-BD11 cells were found to undergo apoptosis when exposed to palmitate and this response was attenuated by the purportedly selective inhibitor of PKC , rottlerin. However, activation of PKC with the phorbol ester, phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate (PMA), failed to promote cell death and down-regulation of PKC did not prevent the cytotoxic effects of palmitate. Moreover, rottlerin remained effective as a blocker of the palmitate response in cells depleted of PKC . Since rottlerin can inhibit various other kinases in addition to PKC , a range of additional kinase inhibitors was also tested. Of these, only the putative Ca 2+ /calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaM kinase II) inhibitor, KN-62, was found to inhibit palmitate-induced cell death. However, this effect was not reproduced by a more selective pseudo-substrate inhibitor of CaM kinase II. Therefore, the present results reveal that palmitate induces cell death in BRIN-BD11 cells and suggest that this may involve the activation of a rottlerin (and KN-62)-sensitive kinase. However, it is clear that PKC is not required for this response.