High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Glutamate receptors are synaptic receptors located primarily on the membranes of neuronal cells. Glutamate is one of the 20 amino acids used to assemble proteins and as a result is abundant in many areas of the body, but it also functions as a neurotransmitter and is particularly abundant in the nervous system. Glutamate receptors are responsible for the glutamate-mediated post-synaptic excitation of neural cells, and are important for neural communication, memory formation, learning, and regulation. Furthermore, glutamate receptors are implicated in the pathologies of a number of neurodegenerative diseases due to their central role in excitotoxicity and their prevalence throughout the central nervous system.