Na+,K+-ATPase, the enzymatic moiety that operates as the electrogenic sodium-potassium pump of the cell plasma membrane, is inhibited by cardiac glycosides, and this specific interaction of a drug with an enzyme has been considered to be responsible for digitalis-induced vascular smooth muscle contraction. Although studies aimed at localization, isolation, and measurement of the Na+,K+-ATPase activity (or Na+, K- pump activity) indicate its presence in vascular smooth muscle sarcolemma, its characterization as the putative vasopressor receptor site for cardiac glycosides has depended on pharmacological studies of vascular response in vivo and on isolated artery contractile responses in vitro. More recently, radioligand-binding studies using [3H]ouabain have aided in the characterization of drug-enzyme interaction. Such studies indicate that in canine superior mesenteric artery (SMA), Na+,K+-ATPase is the only specific site of interaction of ouabain with resultant inhibition of the enzyme. The characteristics of [3H]ouabain binding to this site are similar to those of purified or partially purified Na+,K+-ATPase of other tissues, which suggests that if Na+,K+-ATPase inhibition is causally related to digitalis-mediated effects on vascular smooth muscle contraction, then therapeutic concentrations of cardiac glycosides could act to cause SMA vasoconstriction. The additional finding from radioligand-binding studies that Na+,K+-ATPase exists in much smaller quantities (density of sites per cell) in SMA than in either heart or kidney may have implications concerning its physiological, biochemical or pharmacological role in modulating vascular muscle tone.