Stereotaxic injection of muscimol into a restricted region of one substantia nigra of the rat provoked robust circling and a concomitant rise in ipsilateral nigrostriatal dopamine activity, as revealed by a greater accumulation of 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid and homovanillic acid in the caudate-putamen together with depleted nigral dopamine concentrations. Considered with earlier evidence, these data are taken to indicate that dopamine may be involved in the mediation of this particular rotational behaviour. On the other hand, focal application of bicuculline to the substantia nigra or ventromedial thalamus, or intrathalamic kainate, all evoked a closely similar and vigorous hypermotility (not circling) that could not be correlated with the assorted changes in dopamine utilisation occurring in the substantia nigra, caudate-putamen or nucleus accumbens, either uni- or bilaterally. These changes were therefore probably casually rather than causally related to the mechanisms underlying the behaviour of the animals. Whilst the regional concentrations of noradrenaline were unaltered by these focal drug treatments, the induction of halothane anaesthesia coupled with a unilateral intranigral saline injection produced bilateral elevations in regional dopamine utilisation when assessed 15 min after injection. Such changes were not apparent in tissue taken 30 or 60 min post-injection. We conclude that dopamine cell activity and/or other indices of dopamine utilisation cannot be used to predict the behavioural state of the individual and that an imbalance between the dopamine systems in the two hemispheres does not per se lead to postural or locomotor asymmetry.