In the present study, we examined the ontogeny of ATP and ADP hydrolysis by cerebral cortex synaptosomes from rats of various ages (0-, 7-, 14-, 21- and 60 to 90-day-old rats) in order to learn whether hydrolytic activity increases during the period of intense brain growth, as has been reported for other enzymes involved in neurotransmitter metabolism. The results demonstrate that ATP and ADP hydrolyzing activities increase in parallel from birth until the second postnatal week (about 4-fold), followed by a slight and statistically insignificant increase until the animal reaches adulthood. The maximum increase in nucleotide hydrolysis coincided with maximum brain growth, which may indicate a role for the enzyme in neurotransmission. Furthermore, the parallel development of both activities (ATPase and ADPase) strongly suggest that a single enzyme, an ATP diphosphohydrolase, is involved in ATP and ADP hydrolysis by the synaptosomal fraction.