The amount of radioactivity in vivo in the central nervous system (CNS) of the rat has been studied after tail-vein injections of (-)- [125I] iodopindolol (IPIN). The content of radioactivity in cortex and cerebellum 1 to 4 hr after IPIN administration was significantly reduced in rats pretreated with I-propranolol (1 mg/kg) given i.v. 5 min before IPIN; only a small effect of I-propranolol was seen in brainstem and spinal cord. The maximum reduction in radioactivity caused by I-propranolol was approximately the same in cortex and cerebellum (about 60-65%) and occurred 2 hr after IPIN administration. I-Propranolol was approximately 1500-fold more potent than d-propranolol in reducing radioactivity. Pretreatment of rats with other lipophilic drugs that act at beta receptors was able to reduce the binding of IPIN in vivo; in contrast, pretreatment of rats with drugs which do not have direct agonist or antagonist activity at beta adrenergic receptors (desmethylimipramine, metergoline, diazepam, fluoxetine, phentolamine and haloperidol) had no effect. Experiments using ICI 118, 551, a beta-2 antagonist and betaxolol, a beta-1 antagonist, indicated that the majority of radioactivity in the cortex in vivo was bound specifically to the beta-1 subtype of the receptor whereas in the cerebellum the majority of specific binding was to the beta-2-subtype. When the specific binding of IPIN to beta adrenergic receptors was measured in vitro in seven regions of the CNS, at a ligand concentration of 30 pM, a high correlation was found with the I-propranolol displaceable radioactivity measured in vivo (r = 0.97, P less than .001).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)