Behavioural effects of carbachol given into the hypothalamic/preoptic area have been demonstrated but there is a paucity of information about the response of single neurons to carbachol. The aim of the present study was to determine the response of spontaneously firing neurons in the rat hypothalamic/preoptic area to application of carbachol by iontophoresis or by pressure injection in a dose and volume comparable with that used in behavioural studies. Extracellular single unit recordings showed a significant decrease in mean firing rate in 82% of neurons responding to iontophoretic carbachol and in 75.5% of neurons responding to carbachol injected about 600 microns away. An increase in firing rate occurred in only 15 and 17.6% of neurons, respectively. Application of saline did not alter the mean firing rate while application of glutamate into the same areas or ejection into the vicinity of the same neurons caused an increase in mean firing rate in 94% of responding neurons. The results indicate that a decrease in mean firing rate is the predominant neuronal response to carbachol in the anteromedial hypothalamic/preoptic area of the rat and we suggest that this decrease may be associated with behavioural responses to carbachol.