Antibodies to a membrane-bound antigen, localized to the canalicular structures of the parietal cell, are found in most sera of patients with chronic atrophic gastritis and pernicious anemia. In the present study immunoglobulins containing parietal cell antibodies were found to inhibit the activity of H+,K+-adenosine triphosphatase (EC 3.6.1.36) in a tubulovesicular membrane preparation from porcine gastric mucosa. The degree of inhibition correlated to the titer of parietal cell antibodies as assessed by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The specificity of the enzymatic inhibition was confirmed by the lack of effect of parietal cell antibodies on membrane-bound esterase. A possible interaction of parietal cell antibodies with gastrin binding at the receptor level was investigated in a radioreceptor assay employing 125I-gastrin 1 and gastric mucosal cell suspension from the guinea pig. No blocking capacity was found with immunoglobulins from patients with pernicious anemia as compared with immunoglobulins from healthy controls. The results thus demonstrate a direct inhibitory effect of parietal cell antibodies on the acid producing H+,K+-adenosine triphosphatase of the parietal cell, but also a lack of interaction with the gastrin receptor, and indicate that in the development of hypo/achylia H+,K+-adenosine triphosphatase autoantibodies could have a major pathogenic role.