Effects of ambient Ca2+ concentration on Cl- transport across the thin ascending limb of Henle's loop (TAL) were examined by the in vitro microperfusion technique. When Ca2+ concentration in the bathing fluid was decreased from 1.5 mM to nominally 0 mM at 37 degrees C, the relative permeability of Cl- to Na+ (PCl/PNa) estimated from the NaCl diffusion voltage changed from 2.44 +/- 0.20 to 1.27 +/- 0.16 (n = 7, P less than 0.01). When Ca2+ concentration of the luminal fluid was reduced, PCl/PNa was unchanged. When Ca2+ concentration in the bathing fluid was changed from 4.5 to nominally 0 mM, the lumen-to-bath flux coefficient for 36Cl (K36Cl(l----b)) was decreased, whereas the value for 22Na was unchanged, indicating that the reduction of Ca2+ concentration in the bathing fluid selectively inhibits Cl- transport without affecting Na+ transport. By contrast, at 23 degrees C, the elimination of Ca2+ from the bathing fluid caused only a small reduction of PCl/PNa. Although at 23 degrees C acidification of the bathing fluid caused only little or no decrease in Cl- permeability, the elimination of Ca2+ from the bathing fluid under acid pH markedly suppressed the (K36Cl(l----b)) (10(-7) cm2/s). The pH titration curves of relative Cl- permeability examined at three different Ca2+ concentrations at 37 degrees C revealed that the interaction between proton and Ca2+ was noncompetitive. Addition of quin 2-AM, which reduced intracellular Ca2+ concentration, to the bath caused an irreversible suppression of Cl- permeability, suggesting that the decrease in intracellular Ca2+ concentration also inhibits the Cl- transport across the TAL.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)