Intercalated cells play a major role in renal regulation of acid-base balance. We used fluorescent dyes to characterize postnatal maturation of intercalated cells. We stained rabbit collecting ducts with the pH-sensitive dye 6-carboxyfluorescein diacetate and identified individual intercalated cells by their bright green fluorescence. Number of fluorescent cells per millimeter tubule doubled during maturation in midcortex (68 +/- 7 to 121 +/- 9; P less than 0.01) but did not change in outer stripe of outer medulla. Excitation-ratio (490/450 nm) fluorometry of individual cells in nonperfused tubules revealed an increase in pH of cortical intercalated cell from 7.28 +/- 0.03 in newborn to 7.43 +/- 0.03 in adult (P less than 0.005); principal cell pH did not change with age, averaging 7.10 +/- 0.05. The smaller difference in pH between intercalated and principal cells in neonates suggested a paucity of H+ pumps in immature intercalated cells. Indeed, few cortical intercalated cells trapped the weak base acridine orange in cytoplasmic vesicles that contained H+ pumps or demonstrated selective uptake of 3,3'+-dipentyloxacarbocyanine, a fluorescent cation that probes for mitochondrial potential. Intercalated cells in neonatal medullary collecting ducts had a cell pH similar to that measured in the adult, as well as numerous acidic cytoplasmic vesicles and significant mitochondrial potentials. In conclusion, intercalated cells in cortical collecting duct underwent postnatal proliferation and maturation, whereas those cells present in outer medullary collecting duct, where proliferation was virtually complete by 1 wk of age, were nearly differentiated. Signals directing this centrifugal pattern of postnatal renal maturation are presently unknown.