The physicochemical properties of the glucocorticoid receptor (GC-R) from the mouse AtT-20 pituitary tumor cell line were studied. Analyses involved ion-exchange (diethylaminoethylcellulose, phosphocellulose), gel filtration (Sephadex G-150), and adsorption (DNA-cellulose, hydroxylapatite) chromatography. The receptor was characterized in four different states: native (unactivated), activated, nuclear, and Na2Mo04 stabilized. The unactivated receptor had chromatographic properties which were very similar to those of other steroid hormone receptor proteins; that is, it was not adsorbed to phosphocellulose (PC) or DNA-cellulose but did adsorb to diethylaminoethylcellulose (DEAE-cellulose) and eluted at 0.2 M KCl. In addition, a single peak, which eluted at 0.11 M phosphate, was obtained upon hydroxylapatite (HAP) chromatography. Because of aggregation, it was not possible to estimate the size of the unactivated GC-R. After activation by Sephadex G-25 gel filtration or by precipitation at 40% saturated (NH4)2S04, the receptor adsorbed to both PC and DNA-cellulose, eluting in a single, symmetrical peak at 0.17 and 0.14 M KC1, respectively. The fact that the