Selective activation of synapses near the tip of drug-ejecting microelectrode, and effects of antagonists of excitatory amino acids in the hippocampus.

A technique was developed to selectively facilitate transmission through synapses near the tip of a drug-ejecting micropipette by increasing Ca2+ concentration in a small space surrounding the tip. By means of this technique, we found that antagonists of excitatory amino acids, cis-2,3-piperidine dicarboxylic acid, gamma-D-glutamylglycine and glutamic acid diethylester, blocked excitation induced in CA3 neurons by glutamate and by mossy fiber stimulation in thin hippocampal sections of the guinea pig.