In Zellweger or cerebro-hepato-renal syndrome (CHRS), the assembly of peroxisomes is defective, resulting in deficient plasmalogen formation. Plasmalogens are part of the membrane lipid composition. In fibroblasts of CHRS patients, the plasmalogen fraction of phosphatidylethanolamine (PPE) was about half of that in control cells while total phospholipid (PL) content, individual PL and plasma membrane fluidity were normal. CHRS cell strains had higher beta-adrenoceptor numbers and isoproterenol-stimulated cAMP responses. Receptors were more efficiently coupled to adenylate cyclase than in control cells. Stimulations of cAMP with NaF or forskolin were the same as in control cells. Restoring synthesis of plasmalogens with hexadecylglycerol (HDG), a plasmalogen precursor, resulted in a proportionate increase in PPE of about 40% in both control and CHRS fibroblasts. Exposure to HDG reduced surface beta-adrenoceptor sites and cAMP-responses to isoproterenol in CHRS cells only, while post-receptor stimulations of cAMP were reduced in both cell types. Plasmalogen contents inversely correlated with isoproterenol-stimulated cAMP levels. The increased numbers of functional beta-adrenoceptors in CHRS fibroblasts may be the result of a higher expression and/or of a prolonged functional half-life of the receptor protein. In vivo, this may contribute to the clinical manifestations of the disease.