Phospholipase A₂ (PLA₂) plays a crucial role in diverse cellular responses including phospholipid digestion and metabolism, host defene, and signal transduc-tion. PLA₂ provides precursors for eicosanoid generation when the cleaved fatty acid is arachidonate. Mammalian tissues and cells generally contain more than one PLA₂ enzyme. Recent advances in molecular and cellular biology enabled us to understand the molecular nature, possible function and regulation of each PLA₂ isozymes. Cytosolic PLA₂ (cPLA₂) and secretory PLA₂ (sPLA₂) are the most well characterized PLA₂s amongst a still expanding large family of mammalian PLA₂s. cPLA₂ exists in the cytosol of various types of cells almost ubiquitously. It exhibits arachidonate-preference and the activity is regulated by protein phosphorylation. sPLA₂ is also widely distributed in mammalin tissues and cells. In particular, sPLA₂ in detected extracellularly in inflamed sites of experimental animals and human. Participation of sPLA₂ in arachidonate metabolism is also demonstrated. Here, I focus on recent studies of involvement of cPLA₂ and sPLA₂ in eicosanoid generation.