Excitatory amino acids and their receptors have been postulated to be involved in mediating ischemic neuronal damage. We occluded the bilateral carotid arteries for 5 min in gerbils to examine the effect of FR115427, a novel N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) antagonist, on ischemic neuronal damage. FR115427 prevented hippocampal CA1 cell damage at a dose of 10 mg/kg and reduced spontaneous locomotor hyperactivity in gerbils after the development of ischemia at a dose of 32 mg/kg. The effective doses of MK801 were 3.2 mg/kg for preventing hippocampal CA1 cell damage and 1 mg/kg for reducing spontaneous locomotor hyperactivity. Moreover, we monitored the changes in body temperature of ischemic gerbils for 24 hr. The body temperature of ischemic gerbils significantly increased 1 hr after reperfusion. The pretreatment with FR115427 or MK801 prevented the hyperthermia provoked 1 hr after reperfusion in ischemic gerbils. In addition, the hypothermia was developed in gerbils treated with MK801 24 hr after reperfusion. However, FR115427 did not show hypothermia at any time. These results indicate that FR115427 has a protective effect against ischemic hippocampal CA1 cell damage after systemic administration, and this protective effect appears to be due to anti-NMDA activity.