The potential role of the protein kinase C (PKC)-mediated signal transduction pathways in growth regulation was evaluated and the effects and the possible mechanism of PKC inhibitor on low-passage human meningioma cells in vitro investigated. Freshly resected meningiomas obtained from the operation were placed into cell cultures. Cells from early-passage were used for the following experiments. The numbers of the cultured meningioma cells were counted to evaluate the effect of the PKC inhibitor staurosporine on proliferation of meningioma cells. The basal phosphatidylinositol (PI) tover rate and the inhibitory rate of starosporine on the proliferation of the meningioma cells were detected. It was found that the proliferation of the low-passage human meningioma cells was inhibited by staurosporine in a dose-dependent manner. The inhibitory rate of staurosporine was positively correlated with the basal PI tover rate (r=0.58, P<0.01). It was suggested that PKC-mediated signal pathway is involved in the proliferation of the low-passage human meningioma cells. The procedure that PKC regulated the proliferation of human meningioma cells is a complex procedure. It is necessary to make more research in order to explore a non-operation therapy or an adjuvant therapy.