This paper describes an unexpectedly broad ligand specificity of a scavenger receptor of sinusoidal liver cells that is responsible for endocytic uptake of formaldehyde-treated bovine serum albumin (f-Alb). Binding of 125I-f-Alb to the isolated cells was effectively inhibited by bovine serum albumin (BSA) modified with aliphatic aldehydes such as glycolaldehye, DL-glyceraldehyde, and propionaldehyde whereas albumin preparations modified by aromatic aldehydes such as pyridoxal, pyridoxal phosphate, salicylaldehyde, and benzaldehyde did not affect this binding process. Binding of 125I-glycolaldehyde-treated BSA to the cells exhibited a saturation kinetics with an apparent Kd = 3.3 micrograms of the ligand/ml. This binding process was inhibited by unlabeled f-Alb as well as by the antibody raised against the f-Alb receptor. Indeed, 125I-glycolaldehyde-treated BSA underwent a rapid plasma clearance (t1/2 approximately 2 min) which was markedly retarded by unlabeled f-Alb. Upon treatment by these aldehydes, other proteins such as ovalbumin, soybean trypsin inhibitor, and hemoglobin were also converted to active ligands for the f-Alb receptor, while no ligand activity was generated with gamma-globulin and RNase A. These results clearly show that the f-Alb receptor, originally described as being specific for f-Alb, exhibits a broad ligand specificity in terms of both aldehydes and proteins and, hence, should be described as a scavenger receptor for aldehyde-modified proteins.