Male rats were given sham, partial or complete salivarectomies and their drinking responses to various stimuli were evaluated. There was an attenuated response to subcutaneously administered isoproterenol and diazoxide in desalivate animals. The drinking response to intraperitoneally administered hypertonic NaCl was the same across all groups, although the response to intragastrically administered hypertonic NaCl was decreased in complete desalivate animals. These results, together with those from other studies, indicate that the desalivate animals has a drinking response deficit to various dipsogenic stimuli. The physiological basis of this deficit cannot yet be characterized.