A decade of research culminated in the late 1950's with the demonstration that dopamine was a chemical neurotransmitter within the mammalian brain. Since this time, dopaminergic neuronal systems have been extensively studied using numerous techniques. This paper will review the last 14 years of electrophysiological investigation on neurochemically identified dopamine-containing neurons in the central nervous system. This will include an examination of both the electrophysiological and pharmacological characteristics in these cells, as well as the resulting insights into the regulation of dopamine cell electrical activity which is derived from this work.