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For 30 years~ kysiulugical techniques! rave been used to inuesfipie excitafory amino acids as ne~ r~~ ransmif~ ers. fn the last fen years progress on tke defi~ j~ i5n of receptor subtypes and the a~ ai~ abi~ i~ y of more selecfiDe agonists and unfagffn~ s~ s has fuelle~~ kysi~ iogica~, e~ rocke~~ ca~ and kisf~ cke~ ic~~ approackes to eJuc~ daf~ ng the i}~~~ lvemenf of excitatory amh acids at synaptic sites throughout the verfebrate CNS. Here Max Headley and Sten Grillner assess fke advances made in defining the roles of excifatory amino acids as functional transmitters, taking examples mainly from studies on the spinal cord, and comment on the limitations of the types of approach that are used in suck studies.

The most clear-cut evidence that excitatory amino acids can act physiologically as excitatory neurotransmitters comes from experiments in which intracellular recordings are made of the excitatory …