As public availability of gene expression profiling data increases, it is natural to ask how these data can be used by neuroscientists. Here we review the public availability of high-throughput expression data in neuroscience and how it has been reused, and tools that have been developed to facilitate reuse. There is increasing interest in making expression data reuse a routine part of the neuroscience tool-kit, but there are a number of challenges. Data must become more readily available in public databases; efforts to encourage investigators to make data available are important, as is education on the benefits of public data release. Once released, data must be better-annotated. Techniques and tools for data reuse are also in need of improvement. Integration of expression profiling data with neuroscience-specific resources such as anatomical atlases will further increase the value of expression data.