Unlike in all other thyroid preparations, exposure of dog thyroid cells in long-term monolayer culture to iodide (10(-7) to 10(-3) M for up to 19 h did not blunt the subsequent adenosine 3', 5'-cyclic monophosphate (cAMP) response to thyrotropin (TSH) stimulation. This lack of effect of iodide was observed even when confluent thyroid cells were "follicularized" by the action of TSH in the culture medium. Preincubation of these cells in thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3) was similarly without effect on the subsequent cAMP response to TSH. Study of thyroid cells during the early phase of primary culture demonstrated that inhibition by iodide (10(-4) M) of the cAMP response to TSH occurred after 7 h but was lost after 48 h of cell culture. This inhibitory effect of iodide was prevented by the inclusion of methimazole in the preincubation medium. As with iodide-insensitive cells, T4 and T3 were without effect on the cAMP response to TSH in iodide-sensitive thyroid cells. Exposure of iodide-insensitive thyroid cells to iodide-containing medium obtained after 2 h of incubation with dog thyroid slices, as well as to medium enriched with the 100,000 g supernatant fraction of homogenates prepared from these thyroid slices, did not restore the inhibitory action of iodide. However, iodide-sensitivity of the cAMP response to TSH was restored by preincubation of iodide-insensitive cells in 10(-4) M iodide plus an H2O2-generating system (glucose-glucose oxidase). These data suggest that T4 and T3 are not organic iodine inhibitors of the thyroid cAMP response to TSH. In addition, they provide evidence against the existence of a soluble, freely diffusible, organic iodine inhibitor of thyroid adenylate cyclase. The loss of sensitivity to iodide inhibition of adenylate cyclase that occurs in thyroid cells shortly after initiation of primary culture appears to be related to a defect in the cellular organification mechanism, possibly the H2O2-generating system.