In the present study, the motilin receptor was characterized by enzymatic digestion studies and by solubilization of the motilin-receptor complex from prelabeled membranes using the anionic detergent cholic acid. Motilin binding was significantly decreased by preincubation of membranes of rabbit antral tissue with trypsin, phospholipase A2, C, D, dithiothreitol and 2-mercaptoethanol but not by neuraminidase and beta-galactosidase. Treatment of prelabeled membranes with 1% cholic acid resulted in solubilization of 24 +/- 5% of the proteins and 65 +/- 3% of the radioactivity. The latter was for 77 +/- 4% due to the presence of the motilin-receptor complex as estimated with PEG-precipitation. Upon gel-filtration on Superose 6 the complex partially dissociated but 43 +/- 3% eluted with macromolecular components in the void volume. This peak was not detected when membranes were first incubated with unlabeled motilin. Further disaggregation was accomplished by the addition of 0.5 M NaCl to the elution buffer. The chromatographic profile then showed a peak of about 370 kDa and a second one of 100 kDa. The latter value probably reflects the molecular mass of a single 125I-motilin-receptor-complex.