In peripheral adrenergic nerve endings, noradrenaline is stored in two different types of vesicles, the large and the small dense cored vesicles. A systematic study was undertaken to examine the release of noradrenaline and neuropeptide Y from dog spleen and rat vas deferens under various conditions of stimulation, particularly those which previously have demonstrated a differential regulation of exocytosis of the different types of storage vesicles. Here we present evidence that noradrenaline is released by exocytosis exclusively from the large dense cored vesicles, in which it is stored together with neuropeptide Y. Upon a single stimulation (at frequencies varying from 2-20 Hz), the release of noradrenaline and neuropeptide Y from the dog splenic nerve increased with the frequency of stimulation, but the ratio of noradrenaline to neuropeptide Y remained constant. After repeated stimulation of the splenic nerve, both substances' overflow decreased gradually and in parallel to values of 12.5% and 11.1% of the first stimulation for noradrenaline and neuropeptide Y, respectively. Similarly, repeated stimulation of the rat vas deferens (of which only 2-10% is large dense cored vesicles, whereas in the dog splenic nerve the large dense cored vesicles make up 30-40% of the total vesicle population) with 120 mM K+, in the presence of phentolamine, caused a gradual and parallel decline in the release of noradrenaline and neuropeptide Y (31.6% and 34.0%, respectively). Moreover, omega-conotoxin (10(-8) M to 10(-5) M) had a similar inhibitory effect on the release of both substances, alpha-latrotoxin (10(-9) M) evoked a parallel release of both noradrenaline and neuropeptide Y. The results indicate that noradrenaline in peripheral noradrenergic nerves is released exclusively from large dense cored vesicles by an exocytotic mechanism.