Brattleboro rats homozygous for hypothalamic diabetes insipidus (DI rats) were anaesthetized with urethane. Extracellular recordings were made from antidromically identified neurones of the supraoptic nucleus. About half (77 out of 153) of the neurones recorded in DI rats showed phasic patterns of discharge activity similar to those which are characteristic of vasopressin-secreting neurones in normal rats during hyperosmotic stimulation. Significantly fewer neurones showed phasic activity in DI rats which had been pretreated with vasopressin tannate at a dose which significantly reduced urine volume, water intake and plasma osmolality. Acute systemic hyperosmotic stimulation, induced by an i.p. injection of 1 ml 1.5 M-NaCl, increased the discharge rate of each of 14 neurones from DI rats by 1-5 spikes/s. Hypo-osmotic stimulation, induced by an intragastric injection of 10 ml tap water, reduced the discharge rate of each of four neurones from DI rats by 50% or more. We conclude that supraoptic neurones in DI rats respond normally to acute systemic osmotic stimuli despite the total absence of vasopressin in these rats and despite their chronically disturbed water balance. This implies that the osmoreceptor mechanism which drives the supraoptic nucleus does not adapt substantially during prolonged disturbance of water balance and functions outside the normal physiological range of plasma osmolality, and that the reported alteration of noradrenergic innervation of the neurones in DI rats does not affect their osmotic responsiveness.