Cholecystokinin (CCK) receptors on rat pancreatic acini have been demonstrated to be glycoproteins. In order to study whether their carbohydrate moieties play a role in ligand binding, membrane preparations (adjusted to 0.2 mg protein me) were incubated with 20 pM 125-I-CCK octapeptide (125I-CCK8) for 4 h at 30 degrees C in the presence of lectins with different sugar specificities. Concanavalin A, soy-bean agglutinin, and peanut agglutinin in concentrations up to 1 mM did not alter specific 125I-CCK8 binding. Ulex europeus lectin I showed a dose-dependent enhancement of CCK binding up to 150% of controls at a concentration of 1 mM. Wheat-germ agglutinin (WGA) was the only lectin found to have an inhibitory effect. Inhibition was dose-dependent, with maximal reduction attained at 42 nM, but CCK binding was only partially inhibited to 66.2 +/- 4.4%. Inhibition by WGA was prevented by the presence of N-acetyl-D-glucosamine or N,N',N"-triacetylchitotriose, sugars that are specific for WGA. The inhibitory effect of WGA was not due to an increase in non-specific binding, increased CCK degradation, or CCK binding to WGA. Binding data indicated that the presence of WGA resulted in a decrease in receptor affinity (Kd = 567 +/- 191 v. 299 +/- 50 pM). No significant change in the number of available binding sites was observed. This suggests that WGA is not binding to the active binding site. It is conceivable that binding of WGA to N-acetyl-D-glucosamine or its polymers can lead to a conformational change in the receptor protein, and that this carbohydrate moiety is essential for optimal receptor-ligand interaction.