Recent studies in excitatory amino acids--which are thought to mediate a large part of the excitatory synaptic transmission on the brain--have helped unravel the mechanisms of neural plasticity. An emerging general message is that perhaps similar signals are involved in brain development, sprouting, and synapse formation and learning in adults, and that these signals may also play an important role in degenerative disorders. These proceedings present an introduction to EAA mechanisms and cover EAA and long term potentiation, developmental plasticity in vivo and in vitro, reactive plasticity and anoxia.