The renal and vascular responses to atrial natriuretic factor (ANF) and glomerular and vascular ANF receptors were studied in adrenalectomized (ADR) rats with or without deoxycorticosterone (DOC) or dexamethasone (Dexa) replacement therapy. As expected, adrenalectomy elicited hypotension, hemoconcentration, and increased plasma renin activity, but no changes in plasma levels of either ANF-(1-98) or ANF-(99-126) were detected. Dexa treatment decreased both ANF-(1-98) and ANF-(99-126), whereas DOC treatment increased only ANF-(1-98). The acute renal response to ANF and furosemide was reduced in ADR rats and partially restored either by steroid replacement or by raising blood pressure. The blunted natriuretic response to ANF in ADR rats was associated with an increased density of glomerular receptors. Norepinephrine-precontracted vascular strips from ADR rats were more sensitive to ANF (ED50: 1.7 x 10(-8) M) than those from sham-operated animals (ED50: 1.5 x 10(-7) M). However, vascular ANF receptor density in mesenteric vessels from ADR animals was decreased. Dexa treatment restored vascular response to that observed in sham-operated animals without a concomitant change in vascular receptor density. Because the presence of guanylate cyclase-coupled and noncoupled ANF receptor subtypes have been described in different tissues, we conclude that the apparent lack of correlation between the biological response to ANF and total binding of ANF to glomeruli or mesenteric artery membranes in ADR rats may be in part caused by a differential regulation of both receptor subtype populations.