Despite the absence of vasopressin, Brattleboro homozygous (DI) rats can concentrate their urine to hypertonic levels when deprived of drinking water. When DI rats are infused with vasopressin, freeze-fracture electron microscopy has revealed increases in intramembranous particle clusters (IPC) in papillary collecting duct luminal membrane that parallel the rise in urine osmolality. In the present study, we examined whether the increase in concentrating ability of DI rats dehydrated for 24 h was associated with a change in IPC. For comparison, oral water loading and 24-hour dehydration were used to suppress and stimulate endogenous vasopressin secretion in Long-Evans (LE) rats, and the effects on urine osmolality and IPC were examined. In LE rats, the induced changes in water balance resulted in alterations in IPC frequency that paralleled urine osmolality, whereas, in DI rats, frequency of IPC remained low under all conditions, even when urine osmolality rose to almost 1,000 mosm/kg H2O as a result of 24-hour dehydration. These results suggest that the increased concentrating ability of dehydrated DI does not depend upon increased water permeability of the papillary collecting ducts.