Previous studies have shown that acute systemic administration of ethanol induced striatal ascorbic acid (AA) release in mice and rats. Undercutting the prefrontal cortex completely eliminated ethanol-induced AA release in rat striatum. In the present study, in vivo brain dialysis coupled with high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)-electrochemical detection was used to evaluate the effect of ethanol on the release of AA in the prefrontal cortex, compared to that in the striatum of freely moving mice. The results showed that ethanol (4.0 g/kg i.p.) similarly induced AA release in the prefrontal cortex and striatum of freely moving mice.