SUMMARY: Uptake of tritiated lysine vasopressin ([3H]LVP) was studied in halved neural lobes of rats (which had been given either tap water (control group) or 2% (w/v) NaCl solution as drinking water for 4 days) as well as in slices of pig neural lobe. Uptake of radioactivity into the neural lobes was shown but analysis of the extracts of incubated lobes of both species by ion exchange chromatography showed that very little of it remained in the tissue as hormone. In addition, some radioactivity was associated with trichloroacetic acid-insoluble proteins. After 90 min of incubation, and after correction for the breakdown, the uptake of unchanged [3H]LVP, expressed as a tissue: medium ratio, was 0·14 ± 0·04 and 0·09 ± 0·03 (mean ± s.e.m.) for the saline-treated and control rats respectively, while the tissue: medium ratios for the breakdown product(s) were 6·47 ± 0·45 and 5·50 ± 0·36. The results suggest uptake of [3H]LVP into the cell with almost complete intracellular breakdown of the hormone.