Confocal laser scanning microscopy was used to study changes in intracellular free calcium concentration ([Ca2+]i) at the level of the soma of cultured hippocampal neurones following pressure application of glutamate or N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA). [Ca2+]i was imaged in the presence of tetrodotoxin after loading cells with the fluorescent dye indicator fluo-3/AM. Responses to glutamate were potently antagonized by 6-cyano-7 nitroquinoxaline-2,3-dione (CNQX: 20 microM). They were also strongly and reversibly depressed by 3-((+/-)-2-carboxypiperazine-4-yl)-propyl-1-phosphonic acid (CPP; 20 microM), leaving a small CNQX-sensitive component. Responses to NMDA were also blocked by CNQX. In the presence of saturating concentrations of glycine (100 microM), the depression of glutamate or NMDA responses by CNQX was greatly reduced. Exogenously applied glycine also potentiated the NMDA response. These data indicate that the glycine binding site of the NMDA receptor channel is not saturated in cultured hippocampal neurones and thus is susceptible to the action of agonists or antagonists.