To clarify the role of vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP) and somatostatin, somatotropin-release inhibiting factor, (SRIF) neurons in the response to organisms to noise or whole-body vibration stress, VIP- and SRIF-like immunoreactivity were determined in various regions of the rat brain following exposure for 90 min to noise (broad band, 102 dB) or whole-body vibration (20 Hz, 4.0 g). Both noise and whole-body vibration significantly increased VIP-like immunoreactivity in the amygdala. A significant reduction of VIP-like immunoreactivity in the hippocampus was induced only by whole-body vibration. On the other hand, SRIF-like immunoreactivity was decreased significantly in the hypothalamus and increased significantly in the amygdala by noise and whole-body vibration, respectively. The present findings would seem to indicate that the amygdalofugal VIP neural system is involved in regulating hypothalamic and pituitary hormone secretions in non-specific reactions to stress. Responses of hippocampal VIP and the amygdalofugal SRIF to whole-body vibration stress are assumed to be activated as specific reactions to the stress.