Experiments were designed to determine the effect of monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitors on the release and the metabolism of noradrenaline in the canine saphenous vein. Helical strips were incubated with 3H-noradrenaline and mounted for superfusion and measurement of the efflux of labelled transmitter and its metabolites; in certain experiments the tissue content of 3H-noradrenaline and its metabolites was also determined. The MAO-A inhibitor clorgyline, and the non-specific inhibitor pargyline, but not the MAO-B inhibitor deprenyl decreased the appearance of deaminated and O-methylated deaminated metabolites under basal conditions and during electrical stimulation. The MAO-A and the non-specific MAO inhibitor did not decrease the efflux of VMA to the same extent as that of the other deaminated metabolites. During superfusion with etidocaine, an agent causing increased leakage of stored transmitter, clorgyline abolished the appearance of DOPEG. Addition of semicarbazide in preparations treated with pargyline did not affect the efflux of deaminated and O-methylated deaminated metabolites. From the measurement of tissue VMA, it appeared that the efflux of VMA poorly reflects quick changes in the rate of its formation but that formation is abolished by pretreatment with pargyline. These experiments indicate that in the canine saphenous vein: (1) DOPEG is formed mainly in intraneuronal sites, while DOMA, MOPEG and VMA are formed extraneuronally; (2) VMA is retained in the tissue after its formation; and (3) the only subtype of MAO involved in the metabolism of 3H-noradrenaline released from adrenergic nerve endings can be classified as MAO-A.