Increases in intracellular and mitochondrial calcium content that accompany ischemic and toxic acute renal failure have been suggested to mediate renal tubular cell injury and dysfunction, but the mechanism(s) are unknown. We studied the effects of in vivo vitamin D-induced chronic hypercalcemia on rat renal cortical brush-border and basolateral membranes and mitochondria. In the brush-border membrane, hypercalcemia caused significant decreases in alkaline phosphatase-specific activity, total phospholipid molar content, and phosphatidylserine percent molar composition and increases in the cholesterol-to-total phospholipid molar ratio and phosphatidylinositol percent molar composition. In the basolateral membrane, hypercalcemia caused significant decreases in Na+-K+-ATPase-specific activity and total phospholipid molar content and increases in the cholesterol-to-total phospholipid molar ratio and phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate percent molar composition. In the mitochondria, hypercalcemia caused a mild increase in the mitochondrial calcium content, but no alterations in succinic dehydrogenase-specific activity, succinate-, ADP-, or uncoupler-induced respiration. Thus hypercalcemia caused alterations in brush-border and basolateral membrane enzyme activity and lipid composition, but no functional changes were detected in mitochondria. These hypercalcemia-induced plasma membrane biochemical alterations may be markers of early cell injury and suggest a role for calcium in causing or predisposing to renal tubular cell injury.