Crude plasma membrane fractions were prepared from female Wistar rat anterior pituitaries. These fractions contained a single population of specific 3H-labeled [8-lysine]vasopressin [( 3H]vasopressin) binding sites with a dissociation of constant (Kd) of 8 +/- 2 X 10(-9) M and maximal binding capacity of 244 +/- 45 fmol/mg of protein. The Kd values for a series of vasopressin structural analogues with selective vasopressor or antidiuretic activities were determined together with the corresponding corticotropin-releasing activities (isolated perfused pituitary cells were used). A good correspondence was found between the two sets of values, suggesting that the detected vasopressin binding sites are the receptors involved in vasopressin-induced corticotropin release. The order of potency of these analogues for the binding to hypophysial receptors was similar to that found for the binding to the receptors involved in the vasopressor response. Corticotropin-releasing factor and angiotensin did not affect vasopressin binding to pituitary membranes. Median eminence extracts inhibited [3H]vasopressin binding with an efficiency very close to that expected from their vasopressin content. Corticotropin-releasing factor activated, and angiotensin inhibited, the adenylate cyclase activity of pituitary membranes. Under the same experimental conditions, vasopressin did not influence adenylate cyclase activity nor did it affect the corticotropin-releasing factor-induced activation. These data support the view that vasopressin is one component of the multifactorial regulation of corticotropin release and that it acts through a cAMP-independent pathway. The potentiation by vasopressin of corticotropin-releasing factor-induced cAMP accumulation in intact cells very likely proceeds through indirect mechanisms, which are not expressed in broken cell preparations.