T he possibility of renal tubular adaptation to variations in dietary inorganic phosphate (Pi) was investigated in intact and thyroparathyroidectomized (TPTX) rats pair-fed diets containing low, normal, and high amounts of Pi for periods up to 10 days. Clearances were measured before and during active i.v. infusions with Pi in conscious animals. Thus tubular reabsorption of phosphate (TRPi) could be assessed over a wide range of plasma phosphate concentrations ([Pi]P1). It was found that the renal tubule could adapt its capacity to transport Pi according to the dietary Pi: TRPi was always higher, for a given [Pi]P1, in the animals fed low than in those fed higher Pi diets. This diet-induced modification also occurred in the absence of thyroparathyroid glands, in the presence of the same calcemia and urinary pH, and during marked extracellular volume expansion. A time-course study in rats TPTX both before and during the administration of the experimental diets showed that a difference in the tubular handling of Pi was detectable as early as 3 days after switching the animals from a normal to low- or high-Pi diets. These results indicate that factors other than parathyroid hormone are implicated in the tubular response to variations in the dietary intake of inorganic phosphate.