Glutamate and aspartate may evoke an increase in membrane permeability to monovalent cations and Ca++. However, it is uncertain whether Ca++ influx is mediated by voltage dependent Ca++ channels or by excitatory amino acid activated channels. In addition, the influences of excitatory amino acids on Ca++ uptake by neuronal tissues as well as the responses of their actions to extracellular Mg++ concentration are different. K+ induced Ca++ uptake by synaptosomes was dependent on extracellular Mg++ up to 5 mM and at concentration of 10 mM, Ca++ influx was rather reduced. In Na+ rich media, glutamate-and aspartate-induced Ca++ uptake was increased by Mg++ in a dose independent manner. However, the response for NMDA was inhibited by Mg++ at concentrations above 2 mM. K+-and glutamate-induced Ca++ influx s were inhibited by 2,4-dinitrophenol, chlorprom-azine and verapamil but not by tetraethylammonium chloride. Tetrodotoxin effectively inhibited the action of glutamate but did not affect that of K+. The response for MNDA was inhibited by 2, 4-dinitrophenol and tetrodotoxin, slightly inhibited by verapamil, and not affected by tetraethylammonium chloride. In Na++ rich medium, depolarizing action of glutamate, aspartate and MNDA on synaptosomes was not demonstrated, whereas these agents stimulated Ca++ uptake and caused Ca++ influx induced depolarization at mitochondria. On the other hand, the activities of synaptosomal ATPases were not affected by excitatory amino acids at 5 mM. The results suggest that glutamate or NMDA induced Ca++ influx at synaptosomes exhibits different responses for extracellular Mg++ Ex citatory amino acids induced Ca++ influx at synaptosomes may be associated with increased permeability of membrane for Na++ and Ca++ except K++ and membrane depolarization due to increased ionic permeability.