Subcutaneous injection of L-cycloserine resulted in a 28% reduction in cerebroside levels in mouse brain but had no effect on the levels of gangliosides. In contrast, intraperitoneal injection results in a reduction of ganglioside as well as cerebroside + sulfatide levels. The route of injection influenced the degree of 3-ketodihydrosphingosine synthase inhibition. Intraperitoneal injection caused a rapid decrease in synthase activity followed by recovery over 48 hr, whereas subcutaneous injection resulted in no inhibition over this time; only after daily injection for a week was synthase activity reduced 35%. One week following cessation of L-cycloserine administration, enzyme activity had recovered, whereas the cerebroside level continued to fall. All lipids and enzymes showed normal levels 3 weeks post-cycloserine administration. L-[3H]serine incorporation into glycolipids showed that cerebroside synthesis was most affected, whereas sulfatide synthesis was less affected. One week after cessation of cycloserine treatment, cerebroside synthesis was still severely inhibited, whereas sulfatide levels were near normal. Two weeks after cessation of L-cycloserine administration, synthesis of these glycolipids was similar to that of controls.