We have previously reported that vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) stimulates bone resorption in organ culture via a cAMP-dependent mechanism. Here we describe functional receptors for VIP on a clonal line of human osteosarcoma cells, SaOs-2. SaOs-2 cells respond to VIP with an increase in cAMP. The effect was rapid (2 min) and dose dependent from 0.15-15 nM VIP, with half-maximal stimulation at 1.4 nM. SaOs-2 cells produce prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) and respond to exogenous PGE2 with increases in cAMP approximately one third as great as those induced by VIP. However, the VIP-stimulated increases in cAMP occurred without detectable increases in PGE2 production, and increases in cAMP were unaffected by the cyclooxygenase inhibitor indomethacin. SaOs-2 cells pretreated with VIP for 24 h were significantly less responsive to a second acute challenge with VIP, but retained their ability to respond to PGE2. Similarly, pretreatment with PGE2 induced homologous desensitization to PGE2, but had no effect on the VIP-stimulated increase in cAMP. These patterns of response paralleled those previously described in whole bone in organ culture. Binding studies with [125I]VIP demonstrated specific, saturable, high affinity receptors for VIP on SaOs-2 cells. Scatchard analysis of [125I]VIP binding at 37 C resulted in a curvilinear plot. Analysis based upon the assumption of two independent binding sites gave Kd values of 0.44 and 17 nM for high and low affinity binding sites, respectively. The numbers of high and low affinity sites per cell were determined to be 8,500 and 57,000, respectively. Binding of [125I]VIP was partially inhibited by two related peptides, secretin and PHI-27, but not by PTH, calcitonin or a variety of unrelated peptides. We conclude that the action of VIP on human SaOs-2 cells is similar to that observed in intact mouse calvaria, and that these cells provide a good model for the study of the initial steps of VIP action in bone.