Bindings of glutamate receptor agonists and related modulators were investigated in 10 discrete tissues from gerbil brain using a biochemical technique. There appeared considerable discrepancies, in respect of intrahippocampal profiles, from reported data by autoradiography on rat brain. In the gerbil, an almost equivalent level of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA)-displaceable [3H]glutamate binding was found in field CA1 and the dentate gyrus, while approx 30% less in field CA3, a profile which was strikingly similar to that of (+)-5-methyl-10,11-dihydro-5H-dibenzo-[a,d]-cycloheptene-5,10-imin e maleate (MK-801) or of [3H]glycine. [3H]Kainate binding was highest in the dentate gyrus followed by field CA3 and then field CA1, the ratio of the highest to the lowest being 3 to 2. Binding of [3H]DL-alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methylisoxazole-4-propionate (AMPA) differed, to a certain extent, from that of [3H]kainate and showed the dentate gyrus followed by field CA1 and then field CA3 in the rank order of decreasing binding. Taking together, intrahippocampal localization of glutamate receptor subtypes in the gerbil, when analyzed with a biochemical binding assay, looks to be less region selective than the distribution obtained on autoradiography in the rat. Thus, it is likely that these different distribution profiles show different status of receptor function respectively, or are due merely to species difference.