Spectrofluorimetric assay of noradrenaline (NA) was performed in human postmortem brain material in an attempt to provide a detailed map of the subcortical distribution pattern of NA in the human brain. The concentrations of NA was particularly high in 4 areas of the lower brain stem: the area postrema, the area of the nuclei paranigralis-parabrachialis pigmetosus, the locus coeruleus, and the interpeduncular nucleus. The NA-rich areas of the forebrain were determined to be the hypothalamus, the central amygdaloid nucleus, the nucleus accumbens septi, the medial part of the olfactory area, and the bed nucleus of the straia terminalis. The biochemical mapping of NA is discussed in relation to distribution studies based on the histofluorescence technique.