Sensitivity of hippocampal neurons to glutamic acid and its analogues.

In thin slices of the guinea-pig hippocampus, depolarizations induced by glutamate (Glu) and its analogues were studied by intracellular recording. It was found that Glu induced stereospecific responses, that L-Glu was more potent than homocysteate and N-methyl-D-aspartate. It is probable that the high-affinity uptake mechanism played a decisive role in termination of L-Glu excitation.