The effects of phenylalanine (PHE) and its deaminated metabolites phenylpyruvate (PHP), phenyllactate (PHL) and phenylacetate (PHA) on sodium and potassium activated adenosinetriphosphatase (Na+,K+-ATPase) in synaptosomes from rat brain were investigated. At very low concentrations (5-10 microM). PHE, PHL and PHA inhibited the activity, while PHP stimulated the activity. At intermediate concentrations (50-100 microM), all compounds had no effect, but at higher (0.5-1.0 mM) concentrations they inhibited the enzyme activity. Thus all the compounds tested showed a biphasic effect on the enzyme activity. Hydroxylamine inhibited the Na+,K+-ATPase activity when present alone; simultaneous addition of hydroxylamine and PHE, however, eliminated the inhibitory effects of each other. Reversal of mutual inhibition also occurred in the presence of hydroxylamine and very low (5-10 microM) concentrations of PHL or PHA. The inhibitory effects of PHE at aLl concentrations, and of PHL or PHA at low concentrations, were also eliminated in the presence of EGTA. The data indicate that inhibition of brain membrane Na+,K+-ATPase by PHE and by low concentrations of PHL and PHA may involve metal ions, but that the inhibition by high concentrations of these metabolites must occur by a different mechanism. Since Na+,K+-ATPase plays a central role in neuronal function, and the presence of excess PHE and its deaminated metabolites occurs in brain tissue under conditions of experimentally induced hyperphenylalaninemia and genetic phenylketonuria, the neurologic impairment in experimental and genetic PKU may in part be related to the deleterious effects of these compounds on brain ATPase.