The effects of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) agonist epibatidine on the extracellular concentrations of dopamine (DA) and its metabolites 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DOPAC) and homovanillic acid (HVA) in the dorsal (caudate-putamen) and the ventral striatum (nucleus accumbens) of freely-moving male Wistar rats were studied by in vivo microdialysis. In the dorsal striatum, epibatidine (3.0 microg/kg s.c.) significantly elevated the extracellular concentrations of DA, DOPAC and HVA. In contrast, epibatidine did not alter the extracellular DA concentration in the ventral striatum, but elevated significantly the concentration of DOPAC and also tended to elevate that of HVA. In parallel experiments, nicotine (0.5 mg/kg s.c.) significantly increased DA output in the ventral striatum whereas only a modest and non-significant increase of extracellular DA concentration was found in the dorsal striatum. Earlier studies have shown that the doses of epibatidine and nicotine used in the present study are about equieffective at least with respect to the analgesia-producing or hypothermic effects of the drugs. Comparison of the effects of epibatidine and nicotine suggests that the responses of the mesolimbic and nigrostriatal dopaminergic systems to the two nicotinic receptor agonists differ. Epibatidine, in contrast to nicotine, preferentially stimulates the nigrostriatal vs. the mesolimbic dopaminergic system. Therefore, novel nicotinic AChR ligands structurally related to epibatidine may have low abuse potential.