Extensive fusion was induced in mouse alveolar macrophages by treatment with conditioned media obtained from spleen cell cultures treated with 15 micrograms of phytohemagglutinin or concanavalin A per ml or with 12 nM 1 alpha,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 [1 alpha,25(OH)2D3]. The fusion rate was 80-90% on day 3. In addition, 1 alpha,25(OH)2D3 added directly to alveolar macrophages induced fusion of about 35% of the cells on day 3, whereas direct addition of phytohemagglutinin and concanavalin A did not enhance fusion at all. When conditioned media from spleen cell or T cell cultures treated with 12 nM 1 alpha,25(OH)2D3 were applied to a Sephadex G-100 column, a fusion factor (Mr 37,000-70,000) could be separated from 1 alpha,25(OH)2D3. 1 alpha,25(OH)2D3 induced fusion at 0.012-120 nM in a dose-dependent manner both by direct action and by spleen cell-mediated indirect action, but the fusion rate was always much greater in the latter than in the former at each concentration of the vitamin. Of the vitamin D3 derivatives tested, 1 alpha,25(OH)2D3 was the most potent, followed successively by 1 alpha,24R,25-trihydroxyvitamin D3, 1 alpha-hydroxyvitamin D3, 25-hydroxyvitamin D3, and 24R,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3. These results clearly indicate that 1 alpha,25(OH)2D3 induces fusion of mouse alveolar macrophages by both a direct and an indirect mechanism, the latter mediated by spleen cells, probably by T cells.