In this work, we evidenced characteristic features of agonistinduced trafficking of receptor stimulus for the rat neurotensin receptor 1 (NTS1). Thus, reverse potency orders between two agonists, EISAI-1 and neuromedin N, were observed in inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate and cAMP assays in Chinese hamster ovary cells transfected with this receptor. Indeed, compared with other agonists, EISAI-1 presented lower relative potency toward inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate production than toward cAMP accumulation, guanosine 5Ј-O -(3-[35 S]thio)triphosphate binding, and [3 H]arachidonic acid production. These results indicated pathway-dependent differences in EISAI-1 intrinsic efficacies, favoring activations of G s -and G i/o -related pathways over the G q/11 -related pathway. Moreover, although coupling to G q/11 and G i/o involved the third intracellular loop and the C-terminal domain of the NTS1 receptor, respectively, we demonstrated that deletion of the latter domain suppressed agonist-induced cAMP accumulation, suggesting that this domain also mediated coupling to G s . Together, these results indicated that, unlike other agonists, EISAI-1 discriminated between the pathways involving the receptor C-terminal domain and that involving the third intracellular loop. These properties of EISAI-1 were also observed in cortical neurons endogenously expressing the NTS1 receptor. They were further attributed to the functionalization of its COOH end by an ethyl group, because the unesterified analog EISAI-2 presented normal behavior on inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate production.These findings support the hypothesis of agonist-selective receptor states with distinct conformations or accessibilities of intracellular domains. They also suggest that the differential involvement of these domains in coupling to G proteins might represent a molecular basis for agonist-selective responses through G protein-coupled receptors.It is now well established that a single G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) can interact with several G proteins or other transducing molecules, thereby activating multiple signaling pathways. Moreover, several studies revealed that a ligand could show differential abilities to trigger these pathways (Kenakin, 1996(Kenakin, , 2001Berg et al., 1998;Brink et al., 2000;Wenzel-Seifert and Seifert, 2000). One important implication of this finding is the possibility of developing drugs acting selectively on one of the responses associated to a receptor.Essentially two mechanisms could lead to agonist-selective activation of effector pathways: differential strength of signaling and agonist-directed trafficking of receptor stimulus (Kenakin, 1995). The first mechanism relies on differential tightness of coupling between the receptor and the various transducing molecules. Agonists of high efficacy will thus induce a pleiotropic response, whereas agonists of low efficacy will trigger only the most efficiently coupled pathway. The second mechanism relies on pathway-dependent differences in agonist intrinsic efficacies. This mec...