The cellular and subcellular localization of Rxt1 protein, an orphan Na+/Cl(-)-dependent transporter, was investigated in the central nervous system of rats and mice, with rabbit polyclonal antibodies specifically directed against its C-terminal region. At the light microscope level, the distribution of Rxt1, visualized by the immunoperoxidase method, was found to be similar in rats and mice. Labelled elements were present in numerous gray matter regions of the central nervous system, from the olfactory bulb to the spinal cord. In all labelled regions, immunoreactivity was confined to the neuropil where both a diffuse labelling of low intensity and an intense punctate staining were noted. To further identify the nature of the cellular elements bearing the punctate staining, possible changes in this labelling pattern were investigated: (i) in deep cerebellar nuclei and lateral vestibular nucleus of the Lurcher mutant mouse, in which all cerebellar Purkinje cells are missing and (ii) in the rat cervical spinal cord, 10 days after multiple resections of dorsal roots. The vast majority of the punctate structures, delineating the neuronal perikaryal and stem dendritic contours, had disappeared in the mutant mouse, providing evidence that they belong to Purkinje cell axon terminals. In rhizotomized rats, the intense labelling in laminae I and III had disappeared, demonstrating that it occurred in subclasses of axonal projections of primary afferent fibres. These results strongly suggest that Rxt1 is present in presynaptic axon terminals. The electron microscopic study was carried out in the hippocampus, cerebellum and lateral vestibular nucleus of control mice, where Rxt1-labelled punctate structures were found to be abundant. Immunostaining was confined to axon terminals, particularly in hippocampal and cerebellar mossy fibres and in Purkinje cell axonal terminations of the cerebellar deep nuclei and lateral vestibular nucleus. In the cerebellar cortex, axon terminals belonging to inhibitory local circuit neurons (basket and Golgi cells), were free of labelling. The observations reported in this study have shown that: (1) The Rxt1 transporter is neuron-specific, and is expressed by only some classes or even subclasses of neuronal systems. (2) This transporter can be encountered in excitatory axons using glutamate as neurotransmitter (hippocampal and cerebellar mossy fibres: primary afferent fibres), as well as in inhibitory axons known by their GABAergic nature (Purkinje cell axon terminals) where it might be involved in the re-uptake process of one or several molecules released from corresponding terminals.