Osteoclast activation by wear particles has caused major difficulties for surgeons. Wear particles are the main causes of aseptic prosthetic loosening. Go6983, a protein kinase C inhibitor, inhibits five subtypes of protein kinase C family members. Here, we found that Go6983 had an obviously inhibitory effect on wear-particles-induced osteolysis in vivo. In vitro, Go6983 inhibited RANKL-stimulated osteoclast formation and function by inhibiting the RANKL-stimulated nuclear factor-kappa B/JNK/p38 signaling pathway. We also observed that Go6983 had no effect on the differentiation of osteoblasts and osteoblast-associated genes expression. According to our data, Go6983 has potential therapeutic effects for aseptic prosthetic loosening caused by osteoclast activation. (C) 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.