Because ascorbic acid (AA) is concentrated in synaptic vesicles containing glutamic acid, we hypothesized that AA might act as a neurotransmitter. Because AA is an antioxidant, it might therefore inhibit nitric oxidergic (NOergic) activation of luteinizing hormonereleasing hormone (LH-RH) release from medial basal hypothalamic explants by chemically reducing NO. Cell membrane depolarization induced by increased potassium concentration [K ؉ ] increased medium concentrations of both AA and LH-RH. An inhibitor of NO synthase (NOS), N G -monomethyl-L-arginine (NMMA), prevented the increase in medium concentrations of AA and LH-RH induced by high [K ؉ ], suggesting that NO mediates release of both AA and LH-RH. Calcium-free medium blocked not only the increase in AA in the medium but also the release of LH-RH. Sodium nitroprusside, which releases NO, stimulated LH-RH release and decreased the concentration of AA in the incubation medium, presumably because the NO released oxidized AA to dehydro-AA. AA (10 ؊5 to 10 ؊3 M) had no effect on basal LH-RH release but completely blocked high [K ؉ ]-and nitroprusside-induced LH-RH release. N-Methyl-D-aspartic acid (NMDA), which mimics the action of the excitatory amino acid neurotransmitter glutamic acid, releases LH-RH by releasing NO. AA (10 ؊5 to 10 ؊3 M) inhibited the LH-RH-releasing action of NMDA. AA may be an inhibitory neurotransmitter that blocks NOergic stimulation of LH-RH release by chemically reducing the NO released by the NOergic neurons.is present in high concentrations in the hypothalamus (1-3) but its role in the modulation of hypothalamic hormone release is obscure. The brain accumulates AA from the blood and maintains a relatively high concentration (1.1-1.7 mM), independent of AA ingestion (4-7). Neuronal intracellular AA concentrations are 10 times greater than extracellular AA concentration (6, 7). Neuronal activity was shown to increase extracellular AA in vitro (6,(8)(9)(10)(11)(12) and in vivo as determined by voltametry (13). AA is further concentrated in isolated nerve terminals (14). Synaptic vesicles concentrate AA by active transport (15). AA is present in high concentrations in synaptic vesicles of glutamergic neurons (13) and in adrenal medullary catecholamine secretory granules (16,17).The presence of high concentrations of AA in synaptic vesicles and the evidence that it could be released into the extracellular space by neuronal activity suggested to us that AA might be a neurotransmitter. Since high concentrations of AA are already known to be present in the hypothalamus, we hypothesized that AA might control luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LH-RH) release, possibly by its antioxidant properties. LH-RH release is controlled by release of nitric oxide (NO) from NOergic interneurons that release the soluble gas in juxtaposition to the LH-RH terminals (18,19). In the terminals, NO activates guanylyl cyclase, leading to an increase in cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP), cyclooxygenase, resulting in increased concentrations of prostagla...