Abstract. Prior studies have given no evidence for regulation of vitamin D receptor (VDR) compartmentalization or subcellular organization. Microwave fixation (9-15 s) and an indirect immunodetection system of avidin-biotin enhancement and phycoerythrin fluorophore resulted in sufficient spatial and temporal resolution to allow analysis of these processes. We studied cultured fibroblasts from normals or from patients with four different types of hereditary defect compromising VDR function (mutant cells).Compartmentalization of VDRs in the absence of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (calcitriol) was regulated by serum or estrogen. VDRs were mainly cytoplasmic in cells cultured without serum and phenol red, but VDRs were mainly intranuclear after addition of serum or an estrogen to cells for at least 18 h (slow regulation).Calcitriol initiated a rapid and multistep process (rapid regulation) of reorganization in a portion of VDRs: clumping within 15-45 s, alignment of clumps along fibrils within 30-45 s, perinuclear accumulation of clumps within 45-90 s, and intranuclear accumulation of clumps within 1-3 roan. We found similar rapid effects of calcitriol on VDRs in various other types of cultured cells. These sequential VDR pattern changes showed calcitriol dose dependency and calcitriol analogue specificity characteristic for the VDR. In mutant fibroblasts VDR pattern changes after calcitriol were absent or severely disturbed at selected steps. Treatment of normal cells with wheat germ agglutinin, which blocks protein transport through nuclear pores, also blocked calcitriol-dependent translocation of VDRs. We conclude that immunocytology after microwave fixation provides evidence for regulation of VDR organization and localization.H ORMONE binding to the vitamin D receptor (VDR) ~ and other steroid receptor-related proteins initiates a process of receptor activation that allows the receptor to become competent to regulate transcription (7, 27). Steroid-related receptors may also mediate certain rapid (socalled nongenomic) effects of their hormonal agonists (4,17,34,68,70). Initiation of these genomic and nongenomic effects may be similar among steroid-related receptors, through biochemical and physical changes in the receptors, such as changes in phosphorylation (46, 52) and/or changes in binding to other cell components (i.e., identical proteins or other proteins [8,22,36]).Despite many studies, there is controversy concerning receptor compartmentalization and possible subcellular changes in receptor distribution patterns after binding between a steroid hormone and its receptor (44,73). Studies of steroid-related receptors in the 1960s and 1970s, prin- cipally with radioactive hormones, suggested that unstimulated receptors were mainly in the cytoplasm. Parallel studies suggested that steroid hormone binding initiated receptor translocation into the nucleus within minutes (76) or, in most studies, later than 0.5-4 h after hormone exposure (73). Subsequently, immunocytology and cell fractionation suggested that even nona...