The effects of somatostatin on the release of tritiated dopamine (DA) formed continuously from tritiated tyrosine were studied in vitro in superfused striatal slices and in vivo in both caudate nuclei and both substantiae nigrae of halothane-anesthetized cats using a push-pull cannula technique. Somatostatin (3 X 10(-10) to 3 X 10(-7) M) increased the spontaneous tritiated dopamine release from rat striatal slices. This effect was dose dependent and was completely prevented by tetrodotoxin (5 X 10(-7) M). When applied for 30 min in one cat caudate nucleus, somatostatin (10(-7) M) immediately increased the local release of tritiated DA, while a gradual inhibition of the tritiated amine's efflux was observed in the contralateral caudate nucleus. No changes in tritiated dopamine were seen in either substantia nigra during or after the peptide's application in the caudate nucleus. These results suggest that somatostatin in the striatum may play a role in the local and the distal control of dopamine release from the terminals of dopaminergic nigrostriatal neurons.