REVIEW ON THE ROLE OF METABOTROPIC GLUTAMATE RECEPTORS IN THE MECHANISMS OF ACTION OF ANTIDEPRESSANTS Agnieszka Pa³ucha , Andrzej Pilc On the role of metabotropic glutamate receptors in the mechanism of ac- tion of antidepressants. A. PA£UCHA, A. PILC. Pol. J. Pharmacol., 2002, 54, 581–586. Most conventional antidepressant drugs influence serotoninergic, adren- ergic, and/or dopaminergic systems, increasing serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine synaptic availability. More recently attention has focused on glutamatergic system. Both preclinical and clinical studies, showing antide- pressant-like actions of compounds which reduce transmission at N-methyl- D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors, indicate possible involvement of glutama- tergic system in the etiology of depression. Since glutamatergic transmission is controlled not only by ionotropic but also by metabotropic glutamate re- ceptors (mGluR), their involvement in the etiology and the therapy of de- pression was also postulated. Recent studies, showing that antidepressant treatment may influence mGlu receptors, together with the findings that group I mGluR antagonists, may possess antidepressant-like action, support this hypothesis. Key words: metabotropic glutamate receptors, depression correspondence