Human serotonin [5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT)1A] receptors have been transfected in NIH-3T3 cells, and their pharmacology and coupling to adenylyl cyclase have been analyzed. Three cellular preparations were used, 1) monoclonal cell lines (clones 6, 2B, and 4B), expressing 45, 280, and 500 fmol of 5-HT1A receptors/mg of protein, respectively; 2) clones 6, 2B, and 4B in which the concentration of 5-HT1A receptors was increased after stimulation of the glucocorticoid-inducible promoter with dexamethasone; and 3) polyclonal cell lines that expressed an increasing amount of 5-HT1A receptor as a function of cell passage. The transfected 5-HT1A receptors inhibited basal, forskolin-stimulated, and isoproterenol-stimulated adenylyl cyclase. The inhibition was dependent on the receptor density expressed, increasing from 60% at low density (45 fmol/mg) to 90% at a density higher than 280 fmol/mg. The pharmacology of the 5-HT1A receptor was studied, with particular attention being paid to the behavior of some agonists. These pharmacological characteristics are similar to those of 5-HT1A receptors in hippocampus but different from those of 5-HT1A in cerebral cortex. Analysis of the potencies and efficacies of the full agonist 5-HT and the partial agonist ipsapirone, as a function of receptor density in the three cellular populations used, revealed that 1) the efficacies of the full and partial agonists increased with the receptor density; 2) the EC50 values of the full and partial agonists were not shifted to the left when the receptor density was increased (based on the increase in efficacy and considering the classical pharmacological models of receptor-drug action, a 9-10-fold shift was expected); and 3) the ratio between the efficacies of the full agonist 5-HT and the partial agonist ipsapirone was not modified when the receptor concentration was increased or when the GTP-binding protein availability was decreased. The results indicate that neither the classical nor the operational model of drug-receptor action can be used to describe the coupling of 5-HT1A receptors to adenylyl cyclase in transfected NIH-3T3 cells. One of the explanations could be that 5-HT1A receptors and GTP-binding proteins are coupled in functional domains (almost precoupled), rather than distributed in homogeneous compartments in which they are free to diffuse.