Slices from rat cerebral cortex incubated in the presence of 2-deoxy[³H]glucose accumulate the sugar mainly in the form of its phosphorylated derivative. 2-Deoxy[³H]glucose uptake, measured under conditions of initial velocity, is stimulated by 50–100% in the presence of depolarising agents (KCl, veratridine) or the excitatory amino acidsl- andd-glutamate, l-aspartate andl-cysteate in millimolar concentrations. In contrast a variety of putative neurotransmitters are ineffective on this test. The stimulations elicited by KCl or excitatory amino acids consist in significant increases in both the apparentK_m andF_max values of the 2-deoxyglucose transport system. The effect of excitatory amino acids is not significantly modified in the presence of tetrodotoxin or when the extracellular Ca²⁺ concentration is diminished, whereas it is significantly reduced in the presence of ouabain. Hence stimulation of 2-deoxy[³H]glucose uptake and phosphorylation may indirectly reflect the activation of Na⁺, K⁺-adenosine 5′-triphosphatases triggered by excitatory amino acids in target cells.

The stimulation of 2-deoxy[³H[glucose uptake elicited by the three excitatory amino acids is antagonised in an apparently competitive manner by glutamate diethyl ester (apparentK_i value of ∼- 15 mM) whereas the KCl-induced stimulation is not modified. In contrast a variety of other amino acid agonists (including quisqualate, kainate, N-methyld-aspartate) or antagonists (including γ-d-glutamyl glycine acid and 2-amino-5-phosphonovalerate) are inactive, indicating that the metabolic response is not mediated by any of the receptor subclasses identified electrophysiologically.