The purpose of this study was to investigate how ethanol pretreatment and storage temperatures of brain striatum affect levels of biogenic amines in this tissue. Adult Wistar male rats were injected with 25% ethanol (5.0 g/kg i.p.) while the control rats were administered i.p. with the same volume of saline. Two hours later the rats were decapitated, their brains removed, and the striatum separated. Each striatum was divided into three parts: one part was immediately frozen on dry ice and kept at -70 degrees C; a second fragment was kept in a household refrigerator (+4 degrees C); and the third fragment was kept at +22 degrees C. Twenty-four hours later, levels of DA, DOPAC, HVA, 3-MT, 5-HT, and 5-HIAA in the striatum were assayed by HPLC/ED. Immediately after decapitation; ethanol levels were assayed in the serum of ethanol-pretreated and saline-pretreated rats using gas chromatography. Our results indicate that levels of striatal DA, DOPAC, and HVA in saline-pretreated rats decreased significantly when the storage temperature of the striatum was raised from -70 degrees C, through +4 degrees C, to +22 degrees C, while levels of striatal 5-HT and 5-HIAA remained constant within the temperature range tested and levels of 3-MT fluctuated. In ethanol-pretreated rats, striatal levels of DOPAC, HVA, and 5-HIAA were increased in all three storage temperatures, while levels of DA, 5-HT, and 3-MT were decreased in those temperatures. Those decreases were most profound in striatal samples kept at +22 degrees C. We conclude that concern about possible interactions between drugs and biogenic amines should be exercised.