The effects of ammonium salts in concentration similar to those found in plasma in course of hepatic encephalopathy (2-4 mM) were studied in brain slices in order to clarify how glutamate synapses are affected by this pathological situation. Electrophysiological (mice cortical wedge preparations) and biochemical techniques (inositol phosphates and cyclic AMP measurements) were used so that the function of both the ionotropic and metabotropic glutamate receptors was evaluated. Ammonium acetate (2-4 mM), but not sodium acetate reduced the degree of depolarization of cortical wedges induced by different concentrations of N-methyl-D-aspartic acid (NMDA) or (S)-alpha-Amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA). This reduction was non-competitive in nature and did not reverse during the experimental period (90 min). In a similar manner, ammonium acetate reduced the formation of inositol phosphates induced by (1S,3R)-1-amynocyclopentane-1,3-dicarboxylic acid (1S,3R-ACPD) (100 microM), the prototype agonist of metabotropic glutamate receptors. When the metabotropic glutamate receptors negatively linked to the forskolin-stimulated cyclic AMP formation were evaluated, ammonium acetate significantly hampered forskolin effects and its actions were additive with those of the metabotropic glutamate receptor agonist 1S,3R-ACPD. In conclusion, our results suggest that toxic concentrations of ammonium impair the function of glutamate receptors of NMDA and AMPA type and of the metabotropic glutamate receptors linked to inositol phosphate formation while they functionally potentiate the action of glutamate agonists on the receptors negatively linked to adenylyl cyclase.