The glycoprotein laminin is found exclusively in the basement membranes of adult tissues, not in the mesenchymal stroma. We studied the appearance and distribution of laminin during the early formation of kidney tubules in mouse embryos and in an in vitro transfilter model system. In immunofluorescence using affinity-purified antibodies, the distribution of laminin showed a clear correlation, both spatially and temporally, to the early stages of tubule formation. In vivo, laminin was first detected in a punctate pattern in areas where the pretubular aggregates form; later, it became confined to the basement membranes of the tubules. In experiments in vitro, the nephrogenic mesenchyme was found to form tubules after 12-24 hr of transfilter contact with the inductor. The first laminin spots were found after 12 hr of culture, 24 hr before overt morphogenesis. As the mesenchymal cells began to aggregate and elongate (at 36 hr), laminin was detected in those cells destined to become epithelial, and at 48 hr it was not found in cells remaining in the stroma. In more mature tubules (at 72 hr), laminin was seen as a sharp band in the basement membranes. It is suggested that laminin is involved in the increased cell adhesiveness during the early aggregation of the nephrogenic mesenchyme.