Steady state and kinetic studies on the binding of 125I-beta nerve growth factor (NGF) to single cells from sensory ganglia of 8-day-old chick embryos show two distinct, saturable binding sites with dissociation constants of Kd(I) = 2.3 X 10(-11) M and Kd(II) = 1.7 X 10(-9) M. The difference in the affinities is due to different rate constants of dissociation (k-1(I) = 10(-3) s-1, k-1(II) = 2 X 10(-1 s-1). The association to both sites is apparently diffusion controlled (k+1(I) = 4.8 X 10(7) M-1s-1, k+2(II) = 10(7) to 10(8) M-1s-1). The binding of betaNGF to both sites is specific, since none of a number of hormones or proteins tested compete for the binding of 125I-betaNGF to either of those two sites. The heterogeneity of the binding of 125I-betaNGF is not due to heterogeneity of the 125I-betaNGF preparation nor to a negatively cooperative binding. In experiments where the dissociation of 125I-betaNGF is induced by the addition of saturating amounts of unlabeled betaNGF, the ratio of the 125I-betaNGF released with either of the two dissociation rate constants is solely dependent on the occupancy of the two sites before dissociation is started and is independent of the total occupancy of the sites during dissociation. The rate of dissociation of 125I-betaNGF from the higher affinity binding site I is accelerated by unlabeled betaNGF under conditions where the occupancy is both increased and decreased. Although the dissociation characteristics of 125I-beta NGF change with increasing times of exposure of the cells to the ligand, and 125I-beta NGF is degraded after it binds to the cells, these secondary processes do not interfere with the analysis of the binding data. At the lowest concentration of 125I-beta NGF used for the analysis less than 10% of the 125I-beta NGF is degraded. Both kinetic and steady state binding data reveal the two NGF binding sites at 2 degrees C as well as at 37 degrees C.