y-Aminobutyric acid (GABA)-modulin is a brain neuropeptide that appears to modulate specific high-affinity (20 nM) GABA recognition sites in brain. When added to crude synaptic membranes this peptide inhibits binding of [3H]GABA to the high-affinity site and prevents facilitation of [H]diazepam binding elicited by GABA. GABA-modulin has been purified to homogeneity by ammonium sulfate precipitation, gel chromatography, and reverse-phase HPLC. Homogeneity was confirmed by a variety of means, including chromatography under four different HPLC conditions, two different polyacrylamide gel electrophoreses, and end group analysis. Purified GABA-modulin contains approximately 126 amino acids and has a molecular weight of 16,500. The GABA-modulin molecule contains an abundance of hydrophilic basic residues, and neither cysteine nor GABA is present. End group analyses of GABA-modulin showed that histidine is the free COOH terminus and the NH2 terminus is blocked.