The PTH2 receptor is a recently identified G protein-coupled receptor activated by PTH. Its amino acid sequence is most similar to the PTH/PTHrP receptor, but unlike the PTH/PTHrP receptor, it is activated by PTH and not by PTH-related peptide. We previously demonstrated using Northern blots that expression of PTH2 receptor messenger RNA was greatest within the brain and occurred at lower levels in pancreas, testis, and placenta. We have now obtained a complementary DNA encoding the rat PTH2 receptor and used it to study the distribution of the PTH2 receptor using in situ hybridization histochemistry. PTH2 receptor messenger RNA is abundantly expressed in arterial and cardiac endothelium and at lower levels in vascular smooth muscle. It is also abundant in the lung, both within bronchi and in the parenchyma, and is present within the exocrine pancreas. It is expressed by sperm in the head of the epididymis. A small number of cells associated with the vascular pole of renal glomeruli express the receptor. These data suggest that the PTH2 receptor may be responsible for PTH effects in a number of physiological systems.