Edematous reactions surrounding brain lesions are less extensive in old patients. There also is a general tendency of the aging brain to be vulnerable to osmotic stress, to yield space, and to collapse. In order to elucidate these clinical phenomena, brain sodium, potassium and water, brain osmolarity, and Na+-K+-ATPase activity were studied in old and young rats following three experimental aggressions: cold induced vasogenic edema, osmotically induced edema, and osmotically induced dehydration. This study supports the hypothesis that: (a) extracellular edema is slightly smaller in the aged brain, but cellular swelling is relatively greater and (b) that protective adaptation of brain volume to acute osmotic changes is less efficient and slower in the aged brain.