In cats anaesthetized with sodium pentobarbital and 70% N2O, single lumbar dorsal horn neurons were excited by controlled noxious radiant heating of glabrous hindpaw skin. The EEG was recorded from the pericruciate cortex and posterior lateral gyrus. Subcortical forebrain sites where electrical stimulation inhibited dorsal horn neuronal heat-evoked responses contralaterally were identified by mapping the caudate nucleus, internal capsule, septum, nucleus accumbens and basal forebrain regions. Inhibitory sites were mainly located in the ventral forebrain (ventral septum, diagonal band, basal forebrain). The caudate nucleus and internal capsule had a low incidence and effectiveness of inhibitory sites. In the basal forebrain, the incidence and effectiveness of inhibitory sites decreased from caudal to rostral regions. There was a rostral limit of inhibitory sites, both medially and laterally. The magnitude of inhibition increased with graded increases in brain stimulation intensity. The mean incremental increase in inhibition was greater for caudal than for rostral basal forebrain sites. Mean stimulus currents for threshold of inhibition and for inhibition to 50% of control heat responses were lower for caudal than for rostral sites. Responses of the dorsal horn neurons to increasing temperatures of noxious skin heating were monotonic linear functions over the temperature range studied (48-53 degrees C). Stimulation in both rostral and caudal basal forebrain decreased the slope of this stimulus-response function, with a greater decrease for caudal sites. Cortical EEG synchronization was evoked by stimulation in the caudate nucleus and rostral basal forebrain. For both regions, most synchronogenic sites did not produce descending inhibition of dorsal horn neurons. The significance of these findings in relation to descending inhibition from other brain regions and stimulation-produced analgesia is discussed.