Aldosterone, the major sodium retaining hormone in man, will stimulate active transport of sodium across the urinary bladder of the toad, Bufo marinus in vitro , at physiological concentrations of the hormone.The in vitro action of aldosterone is mimicked by steroid hormones with known mineralocorticoid properties and it is competitively inhibited by other analogues, e.g. spironolactone and cortisone. Aldosterone is bound to physiological receptor sites within the transporting epithelial cells, chiefly within the nuclei, and is displaced from these binding sites specifically by structural analogues including other mineralocorticoids. Effects of aldosterone are dependent upon availability of metabolizable substrates to support the active transport of sodium. Although the stimulation of sodium transport by aldosterone can be specifically inhibited by actinomycin D, an inhibitor of RNA synthesis, and by puromycin, an inhibitor of protein synthesis, direct evidence of stimulation of new RNA and protein synthesis during the latent period with physiological concentrations of aldosterone is still lacking. It is possible, however, that the amounts of RNA and protein that are involved are too small to be detected by available techniques. Evidence is summarized which leads us to conclude that the increased sodium transport induced by aldosterone is the consequence of a reduced resistance of the apical plasma membrane of the transporting epithelia to the entry of sodium into the transport pathway.