Neonatal rat pancreata are not responsive to stimulation by cholecystokinin (CCK) and this has been shown to be due primarily to low binding of CCK to pancreatic acinar cells of rats of this age group. To see if hydrocortisone has any effect on the maturation of CCK binding and enzyme secretion, day-old rat pups were injected three times intraperintoneally with hydrocortisone at a dose of 5 mg/100 g body weight per dose and sacrificed 48 h after the first injection. Control age-matched pups were injected with 0.9% saline at the same volume and schedule as the hydrocortisone injected pups. The pancreatic weight, protein, and DNA contents were found to be significantly lower in the pups from the hydrocortisone-treated group than in the pups from the control group. The protein content per unit weight of DNA, however, was not different between the two. The maximal output of amylase under stimulation by 3 X 10(-10) M CCK was significantly higher in the dispersed acini prepared from the hydrocortisone-treated group as compared to dispersed acini prepared from the control (575 +/- 50 vs. 390 +/- 40% when expressed as a percentage of basal release). The maximal binding to 125I-BH-CCK was also significantly higher in the dispersed acini from the hydrocortisone group when compared to the dispersed acini from the control group (2.6 +/- 0.5 vs. 1.4 +/- 0.4%). Hydrocortisone, therefore, induces the precocious maturation of the secretory apparatus of the pancreatic acini, specifically the increase in capacity to bind and the greater responsiveness of the acini to CCK.