To localize the vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP)-like immunoreactive neurons at the origin of the plexuses of VIP-immunoreactive fibers found in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST), we combined iontophoretic injections of the retrograde tracer cholera toxin B-subunit (CTb) with VIP immunocytochemistry. Following CTb injections in the BNST, 2 groups of retrogradely labeled neurons immunoreactive to VIP were detected: (1) a dorso-caudal group localized in the dorsal part of the dorsal raphe nucleus and the adjacent ventro-lateral part of the periaqueductal gray; and (2) a rostral group in the caudal linear raphe nucleus. No double-labeled cells were observed in other nuclei including those of the amygdala and the supramammillary nucleus.