The transport of ketone bodies across the luminal membrane of the nephron was studied by means of micropuncture techniques in rats in normal acid-base state. The concentration of beta-hydroxybutyrate (beta-HB) and acetoacetate (AcAc) in plasma, tubular fluid and urine was measured by an ultramicromethod using enzymatic cycling. At endogenous plasma ketone body concentration, approximately 80% of the filtered load of beta-HB and AcAc was reabsorbed in the proximal convoluted tubule, the remaining fraction being almost completely reabsorbed between the late proximal convoluted and the distal tubule; under these conditions, the urinary excretion of ketone bodies was less than 1% of the filtered load. A progressive elevation to steady-state levels of plasma beta-HB resulted in a progressive reduction of the fractional reabsorption of beta-HB and AcAc in the proximal convoluted tubule, which means that reabsorption of ketone bodies in this nephron segment is saturable. No net secretion of ketone bodies could be demonstrated along the nephron even at the highest plasma ketone body concentrations reached. In clearance experiments, the capacity of the rat kidney for reabsorbing both beta-HB and AcAc was found to be limited by a maximal tubular capacity (Tm). The data suggest that, in the young Wistar rat nephron, most of the reabsorption of ketone bodies is carrier mediated.