The bcl-2 family of proteins comprises both anti-apoptotic and pro-apoptotic members, which play a pivotal role in regulating cell death. Bcl-w is a recently identified member of this family, which was shown to inhibit apoptosis in haemopoietic cell lines. However, the function and expression patterns of bcl-w in the nervous system have so far not been described. We have cloned complementary DNA corresponding to rat bcl-w and analysed the expression of bcl-w messenger RNA during rat brain development, using RNA blotting and in situ hybridization techniques. We also compared the expression patterns of bcl-w with those of bcl-xL. During brain development, the levels of bcl-w messenger RNA were found to increase, with highest expression located to specific regions of the mature brain, such as hippocampus, cerebellum, piriform cortex and locus coeruleus. Bcl-w messenger RNA was expressed by neurons, as shown with double labeling with neuronal markers. In contrast to bcl-w, bcl-xL messenger RNA expression levels were highest during early development, particularly in cortex, hippocampus, thalamus, spinal cord and dorsal root ganglia. During postnatal development the expression of bcl-xL messenger RNA decreased and were only detected at low levels in the adult nervous system. As shown earlier for bcl-2, the expression of bcl-w and bcl-x messenger RNA in cultured cerebellar granule cells was not altered by the deprivation of neurotrophic factors. The present results suggest that bcl-w may play an important role in the mature nervous system.