The cDNA encoding the receptor for gonadoliberin (GnRH or LH-RH) was isolated from a human pituitary cDNA library and heterologously expressed in the murine fibroblast cell line LTK-. By using a dicistronic expression strategy utilizing the internal ribosomal-entry-site sequence of poliovirus, single cell clones with stable and high expression of human gonadoliberin receptors were selected. In radioligand saturation-binding experiments, the gonadoliberin antagonist Cetrorelix showed high-affinity binding to the heterologously expressed human gonadoliberin receptor with a Kd of 0.1 nM. The pharmacological profile using 125I-Cetrorelix as radioligand and the authentic gonadoliberin or agonistic and antagonistic derivatives as competitors, showed a distinct rank order of binding potencies. Superagonistic gonadoliberin derivatives had more than ten-times higher binding affinities in comparison to gonadoliberin with a Kd of 3.47 nM. The gonadoliberin receptor expressed in stably transfected LTK- cells coupled to the inositol phosphate signal-transduction pathway. Gonadoliberin stimulated the synthesis of inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate in a dose-dependent way with an EC50 of 5 nM. This stimulatory effect of gonadoliberin was completely antagonized by Cetrorelix in equimolar concentrations, demonstrating the high potency of this competitive receptor antagonist. In growth-arrested cells, a transient expression of the c-fos protooncogene was induced by gonadoliberin or [D-Trp6]gonadoliberin, showing that the gonadoliberin receptor couples to a putative mitogenic signal-transduction pathway in this heterologous cell system.