The murine receptor for luteinizing hormone (LHR) was cloned and expressed in L cells. This LHR (mature protein of 674 amino acids) is very similar to that of the rat (same length, 36 amino acid differences) but differs significantly more from that of man (673 amino acids, 109 differences). Expression of the murine LHR in L cells led to the appearance of binding sites for human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) with a Kd of 150 pM and an LH- and hCG-stimulable adenylyl cyclase activity (EC50 = 50-100 pM hCG). Upon labeling pools of phosphoinositides with [3H]myo-inositol, L cells expressing the murine LHR responded to hCG with an increase in their rate of phosphoinositide hydrolysis (EC50 = 2,400 pM hCG). This was accompanied by an increase in intracellular Ca2+ [( Ca2+]i), as determined by the Fura2 method. This increase in [Ca2+]i in response to hCG was dependent on the LHR, for HCG did not affect [Ca2+]i in L cells not expressing the LHR. The effect was not due to the cAMP-forming activity of the LH receptor, for neither forskolin nor prostaglandin E1, which both increase cAMP levels in L cells, had a similar effect in either control or LHR-expressing cells and isoproterenol had no effect in L cells expressing a functionally active hamster beta-adrenergic receptor. The effect was also not due to overexpression of a Gs-coupled receptor, for L cells expressing 8-fold higher levels of the human V2 vasopressin receptor did not mimic the Ca(2+)-mobilizing response of the LH receptor. We conclude that the LH receptor has the capability of activating two intracellular signaling pathways: one leading to stimulation of adenylyl cyclase and resulting in increases in cAMP and a second leading to stimulation of phospholipase C and resulting in formation of inositol phosphates and elevations in [Ca2+]i. These data correlate positively with and provide a mechanistic explanation for previous reports on the ability of hCG to mobilize phosphoinositides and increasing [Ca2+]i in luteal and granulosa cells (e.g. Davis, J. S., West, L. A., and Farese, R. V. (1984) J. Biol. Chem. 259, 15028-15034).