Differential sensitivity of selected brain areas to excitatory amino acids.

The 22Na+ efflux stimulated by selected agonists of the 4 excitatory amino acid receptors, previously detected in the striatum, has been studied on 22Na+-preloaded slices prepared from 10 major areas of the rat brain. All brain areas were found to be sensitive, albeit to varying extents, to excitatory amino acids. The cerebellum was exceptional in its high sensitivity to kainate and quisqualate and in the absence of effect of N-methyl-D-aspartate. These results support the suggestion that excitatory amino acids interact with heteregenous receptors which differ from each other not only in their pharmacological properties but also in their regional distribution.