The effects of the inhibitory neurotransmitters gammaamino butyric acid (GABA) and glycine were characterized on spontaneous activity recorded from mouse spinal cord cultures. The GABA concentration which completely inhibited burst activity was chosen as a quantifiable measure of culture drug response and was used to 1) assess interculture and intraculture variability, 2) determine the influence of culture age and initial activity on GABA responses, and 3) compare the GABA responses between networks obtained from whole spinal cord and ventral half spinal cord. Results showed that 1) no significant variability existed either within or among cultures, 2) the initial culture activity directly affected GABA responses, 3) the culture age had no effect on GABA responses, and 4) there was no significant difference in GABA responses between the two spinal cord tissues.