At least three types of vanadate-insensitive membranous ATPase were identified on rat liver lysosomes: bafilomycin A1-sensitive Mg(2+)-ATPase (H(+)-ATPase), N-ethylmaleimide (NEM)-sensitive but bafilomycin A1-insensitive Mg(2+)-ATPase (ATPase I), and NEM-insensitive Ca2+/Mg(2+)-ATPase (ATPase II). They showed different sensitivity to chemicals and ions with apparent molecular masses of 700-800, 500-650, and 360 kDa, respectively. Of these membranous ATPases, H(+)-ATPase seemed to constitute only one tenth of the ATPase activity on rat liver lysosomes and to be the only ATPase that exposed its active site to the cytoplasmic side of the lysosomal membranes.