Dimerization and phosphorylation of thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) receptors was characterized using HEK293 and pituitary GHFT cells expressing epitope-tagged receptors. TRH receptors tagged with FLAG and hemagglutinin epitopes were co-precipitated only if they were co-expressed, and 10 -30% of receptors were isolated as hemagglutinin/FLAG-receptor dimers under basal conditions. The abundance of receptor dimers was increased when cells had been stimulated by TRH, indicating that TRH either stabilizes pre-existing dimers or increases dimer formation. TRH increased receptor dimerization and phosphorylation within 1 min in a dose-dependent manner. TRH increased phosphorylation of both receptor monomers and dimers, documented by incorporation of 32 P and an upshift in receptor mobility reversed by phosphatase treatment. The ability of TRH to increase receptor phosphorylation and dimerization did not depend on signal transduction, because it was not inhibited by the phospholipase C inhibitor U73122. Receptor phosphorylation required an agonist but was not blocked by the casein kinase II inhibitor apigenin, the protein kinase C inhibitor GF109203X, or expression of a dominant negative form of G protein-coupled receptor kinase 2. TRH receptors lacking most of the cytoplasmic carboxyl terminus formed dimers constitutively but failed to undergo agonist-induced dimerization and phosphorylation. TRH also increased phosphorylation and dimerization of TRH receptors expressed in GHFT pre-lactotroph cells.The TRH 1 receptor belongs to the superfamily of seventransmembrane-helix G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) and plays a key role in maintaining proper function of the thyroid gland (1, 2). Two subtypes of TRH receptors, termed type 1 and 2, have been identified (3-5). Although both receptor types are detected in various tissues at different levels (6 -8), the type 1 TRH receptor is primarily expressed in thyrotrophs and lactotrophs in the anterior pituitary gland, and its activation stimulates the secretion of TSH and prolactin, at least in part, by raising the intracellular calcium concentration (9, 10). The TRH receptor, once occupied by agonist, activates phospholipase C through G q/11 , leading to the formation of inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (InsP 3 ), which causes an elevation of intracellular calcium by mobilizing an InsP 3 -sensitive Ca 2ϩ store in the endoplasmic reticulum (10, 11).In conventional models, GPCRs have been thought to function as monomers that bind one molecule of ligand and then activate one heterotrimeric G protein to turn on the cognate signaling pathway (12-16). However, evidence indicating that GPCRs can form homo-or heterodimers, pairing with the same receptor type, different subtypes within the same receptor family, or even distinct classes of receptors, has begun to emerge. Receptor dimerization has been documented for a wide variety of GPCRs including the  2 -adrenergic receptor (17, 18), Ca 2ϩ -sensing receptor (19,20), muscarinic m3 receptor (21), ␥-aminobutyric acid GABA B receptor (...