A conservative requirement for 'safe' electrical stimulation is the absence of chemical changes adjacent to the stimulating electrodes. In electrochemical terms, this means that charge transfer processes producing dissolved species must be avoided. With this restriction, the aim of this study has been to establish the maximum charge density that can be passed during each half of a biphasic stimulation pulse. Possible dissolved species resulting from faradaic reactions at the Pt/saline interface include chloride oxidation products (ClO-, ClO3-, etc.) H+ or OH- ions and Pt ions. For balanced biphasic pulses, neither Cl- oxidation nor pH shifts appear likely to constitute significant problems and the most difficult problem to avoid appears to be metal dissolution. Pt dissolution has been monitored by UV spectrophotometric analysis and, because protein interferes with the analysis, the tests were run in inorganic saline solution. Results are presented in the form of nomographs which relate Pt dissolution to the charge density per pulse and the current density. Specific recommendations for minimizing Pt dissolution include the use of platinized electrodes, the restriction of charge densities per pulse to greater than or equal to 300 muC/geom cm2 of electrode surface, and preferably the use of cathodic-first biphasic pulses.