Summary. Calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) is localized in capsaicin-sensitive nerve fibres in the kidney and urogenital tract whereas calcitonin reaches the kidney through the general circulation. Systemic infusion of CGRP and perfusion of isolated rat kidney reduces vascular resistance, and increases renal blood flow and glomerular filtration. CGRP stimulates renin secretion in vivo and in vitro and inhibits contraction of isolated rat mesangial cells by angiotensin II. Calcitonin does not affect vascular resistance, renal blood flow and glomerular filtration, and is tess potent in stimulating renin secretion, and does not alter contraction of isolated rat mesangial cells by angiotensin II. CGRP also exerts renal tubular effects brought about probably through interaction with calcitonin receptors. To this end, increased excretion of sodium and chloride, and stimulation of urinary flow are less pronounced with CGRP than with calcitonin. Calcitonin, moreover, stimulates the fractional urinary excretion of calcium and phosphate.Key words: Calcitonin -Calcitonin gene-related peptide -Renovascular effects -Renotubular effects -Renin secretion Alternative splicing of the initial calcitonin gene transcript results in the formation of two distinct messenger RNAs encoding the precursors of calcitonin and of calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) [2,26]. In man and rat two calcitonin/ CGRP genes have been recognized [3,40]. A pseudogene encoding a second calcitonin-like structure appears not to be expressed in man [40]. But CGRP-I (or 7) and -II (or fl) have been identified in man and rat at the mRNA and peptide levels [3, 23, 341. Calcitonin and CGRP are single chain polypeptides consisting of 32 and 37 amino acids, respectively. They have in common amino-terminal ring structures linked by disulfide bridges and the carboxyltermini are amidated. In man, CGRP shares 16% structural homology with calcitonin whereas the homology between CGRP-I and -II is 92% [13]. As a result, distinct receptors for calcitonin and CGRP have been identified [7,11,33,42]. Human CGRP-I and -II, due to their high homology, crossreact almost completely, but subtle differences in the distribution of human CGRP-I and -II binding sites have been observed on receptor autoradiography of the human brain [22].Calcitonin is predominantly synthesized and released from thyroid C-cells [15]. An important stimulator of calcitonin secretion is an increase in the extracellular calcium concentration [36]. Calcitonin can be considered as a hormone that reaches its target tissues via the circulation. Calcitonin lowers serum calcium levels through inhibition of bone resorption [37]. In the kidney, calcitonin stimulates the urinary excretion of calcium, phosphate, sodium, potassium and chloride, and enhances 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol production [5,20,25,32].CGRP is predominantly synthesized in the nervous system and is frequently found in peripheral nerves associated with blood vessels, but CGRP has also been identified in the normal human thyroid glan...