The renal 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 24-hydroxylase enzyme, which may be the starting point in the catabolic pathway for vitamin D metabolism, is markedly induced by 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 [1,25-(OH)2D3], the hormonal form of vitamin D. The purpose of this study was to investigate the regulation of the cytochrome P450 component of this enzyme (P450cc24) by 1,25-(OH)2D3 and phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (TPA). P450cc24 messenger RNA (mRNA) levels were measured using the full-length rat complementary DNA probe (p108). In primary cultures of rat renal tubular cells, 1,25-(OH)2D3 produced a 26-fold increase in P450cc24 mRNA which was detectable at 4 h, maximal at 24 h, and returned almost to baseline by 48 h. The induction was inhibited by actinomycin D, 5,6-dichloro-1-b-D-ribofuranosyl benzimidazole (DRB), and cycloheximide, and it was specific for vitamin D compounds containing a 1-hydroxyl group. TPA alone had no effect, but TPA in the presence of 1,25-(OH)2D3 produced an increase in P450cc24 mRNA within 30 min, and this increase peaked at 2 h. TPA also shifted the dose-response curve of 1,25-(OH)2D3 to the left, so that 1,25-(OH)2D3 was effective at a concentration as low as 1 nM. In the same experiments, TPA increased c-fos mRNA levels, and this increase was accelerated by 1,25-(OH)2D3. These studies suggest that the induction of P450cc24 mRNA by 1,25-(OH)2D3 is a receptor-mediated genomic event and that this induction may account for the stimulation of 24-hydroxylase enzyme activity by 1,25-(OH)2D3. In addition, TPA accelerates the effect of 1,25-(OH)2D3 by a mechanism which may involve protein kinase C.