Antagonists of excitatory amino acids and cyclic guanosine monophosphate in cerebellum.

The excitatory amino acid analogues kainate, quisqualate, domoic acid, 4-fluoroglutamate, homocysteic acid and N-methylaspartate as well as the tremor-inducing drugs harmaline and oxotremorine all induced significant elevations in cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) levels in the cerebellum in vivo. The putative antagonists of excitatory amino acids, 2-amino-5-phosphonovalerate (APV) and piperidine dicarboxylate (PDA) both blocked the actions of the tremorogens. Piperidine dicarboxylate also blocked the in vivo activity of all the amino acid analogues except homocysteic acid and N-methylaspartate. 2-Amino-5-phosphonovalerate (APV) was inactive against kainate, quisqualate and homocysteic acid. It therefore appears that PDA and APV are useful tools for the further study of the function of glutamate and asparatate receptors.