In experiments on frog urinary bladder the mechanisms behind the gradual development of a hydroosmotic reaction to antidiuretic hormone (ADH) were investigated. It was suggested that the velocity of hydroosmotic reaction may be limited by (a) formation and insertion of particle aggregates into the apical membrane or (b) by velocity of cAMP formation. The urinary bladders were exposed to 23 nM ADH for different times (from 1 to 20 min) and water flow was measured over a period of 40 min. It was found that the value of the full hydroosmotic response increased progressively with the time of exposure to the hormone; however, the enhancement of water flow was equal during each time interval before reaching the reaction maximum. A direct correlation between the value of ADH-stimulated water flow, cAMP content in bladder tissue and frequency of particle aggregates in the granular cell apical membrane was observed. The content of cAMP in ADH-treated bladders was higher by 80% in the absence than in the presence of an osmotic gradient. Pretreatment of urinary bladders with 50 microM cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase inhibitor, 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine, significantly accelerated the development of the hydroosmotic reaction and increased the magnitude of water flow in comparison with the effect of ADH only. No changes in cyclic AMP phosphodiesterase activity were found in the urinary bladder homogenates under the action of ADH, so it seems likely that accumulation of cAMP depends only on the increase of adenylate cyclase activity.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)