Clearance experiments were performed to characterize the sensitivity to vasopressin of the thick ascending limbs and collecting duct system of the rat kidney. The response of the thick ascending limbs was evaluated by measuring the Mg2+ excretion rate in the urine, since the [arginine-8] vasopressin-mediated effects on Mg2+ excretion are the direct result of a stimulation of Mg2+ reabsorption in this nephron segment, and the response of the collecting ducts was evaluated by changes in urine flow. To avoid the effects of parathyroid hormone, glucagon, and calcitonin, which stimulate Mg2+ reabsorption in the thick ascending limb and distal tubule, and of calcitonin, which increases the permeability of the cortical collecting ducts to water, experiments were performed on Brattleboro D. I. rats (with hereditary diabetes insipidus, due to a lack of [Arg8]vasopressin) acutely deprived of endogenous parathyroid hormone, calcitonin, and glucagon. Vasopressin infused at rates up to 5 pg/min did not reduce the Mg2+ fractional excretion rate, whereas at 5 pg/min water excretion was decreased by 50%. The half-maximal reduction of Mg2+ excretion occurred at vasopressin infusion rates 4-6 times higher than those necessary to diminish the water excretion rate to the same extent. We conclude that in vivo, two segments involved in the production of concentrated urine have different sensitivities to vasopressin and that this difference in sensitivity is very similar for the biological response in vivo and the adenylate cyclase activation in vitro. We suggest that both the magnitude and the nature of the effects of [Arg8]vasopressin on the kidney may vary according to the required antidiuretic response.