The requirements for inducing downregulation of alpha/beta T cell receptor (TCR) molecules on naive major histocompatibility complex class I-restricted T cells was investigated with 2C TCR transgenic mice and defined peptides as antigen. Confirming previous results, activation of 2C T cells in response to specific peptides required CD8 expression on the responder cells and was heavily dependent upon costimulation provided by either B7-1 or ICAM-1 on antigen-presenting cells (APC). These stringent requirements did not apply to TCR downregulation. Thus, TCR downregulation seemed to depend solely on TCR/peptide/interaction and did not require either CD8 or B7-1 expression; ICAM-1 potentiated TCR downregulation, but only with limiting doses of peptides. TCR downregulation was most prominent with high affinity peptides and appeared to be neither obligatory nor sufficient for T cell activation. In marked contrast to T cell activation, TCR downregulation was resistant to various metabolic inhibitors. The biological significance of TCR downregulation is unclear, but could be a device for protecting T cells against excessive signaling.