Vasoactive intestinal peptide and secretin increased cellular cAMP and pepsinogen secretion in dispersed chief cells from guinea pig gastric mucosa. With each peptide there was a close correlation between the dose-response curve for changes in cellular cAMP and that for changes in pepsinogen secretion. Vasoactive intestinal peptide-(10-28) and secretin-(5-27) had no agonist activity and antagonized the actions of vasoactive intestinal peptide and secretin on cellular cAMP and pepsinogen secretion. Studies of binding of 125I-vasoactive intestinal peptide and of 125I-secretin indicated that gastric chief cells possess four classes of binding sites for vasoactive intestinal peptide and secretin and that occupation of two of these classes of binding sites correlates with the abilities of vasoactive intestinal peptide and secretin to increase cellular cAMP and pepsinogen secretion. What function, if any, is mediated by occupation by the other two classes of binding sites remains to be determined.