Although Ismail-Beigi and Edelman demonstrated in 1971 that thyroid hormones control the activity of Na-K-ATPase in the mammalian kidney, the actual site of this regulation inside the organ was not located. We therefore decided to study the relationship between thyroid hormones and Na-K-ATPase activity in individual nephron segments obtained by microdissection of collagenase-treated rabbit kidneys. For this purpose, the changes in the activity and number of catalytic sites of Na-K-ATPase in response to thyroidectomy or triiodothyronine administration were examined. Eight to 12 days after thyroidectomy, Na-K-ATPase activity had dropped by 40 to 80% in the convoluted and straight portions of the proximal tubules, and in the cortical and outer medullary collecting tubules, but not in the thick ascending limbs of Henle's loops or distal convoluted tubules. The apparent number of catalytic sites for Na-K-ATPase, as measured by specific binding of 3H-ouabain, decreased in parallel with Na-K-ATPase activity, and therefore this enzyme's specific activity was not altered. Fourty eight hours after injection of thyroidectomized animals with a single dose of either 100 or 500 micrograms/kg triiodothyronine, Na-K-ATPase activity in target segments was restored to the level measured in control animals. These effects of thyroid hormone were specific for Na-K-ATPase, since the activity of adenylate cyclase, another marker of the basolateral membrane, was not altered by thyroidectomy. The results obtained indicate that triiodothyronine controls Na-K-ATPase activity in specific nephron segments, by altering the number of this enzyme's catalytic sites.