By use of nuclear mini-extracts prepared from cultured cerebellar granule cells in a gel-mobility assay, exogenous N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) or kainate was shown to increase both 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol 13-acetate-responsive element (TRE)- and cyclic AMP-responsive element (CRE)-binding activity. These increases were specifically prevented by the NMDA receptor antagonist D,L-2-amino-5-phosphonovalerate and the non-NMDA receptor antagonist 6-cyano-7-nitroquinoxaline-2,3-dione, respectively. The increase of TRE-binding activity was dependent on de novo protein synthesis, and its inductions by both NMDA and kainate required extracellular Ca2+. TRE-binding activity was competitively inhibited by the CRE, and vice versa, showing higher DNA-binding affinity to the CRE than to the TRE. A proteolytic clipping bandshift assay demonstrated that the increase in CRE-binding activity could be mediated by the TRE-binding activity. Thus, the TRE-binding activity cross-binding to the CRE could be activated by NMDA or kainate stimulation. The involvement of c-Fos or Fos-related proteins in the TRE- and CRE-binding complexes was shown by a supershift gel-mobility assay using anti-c-Fos antiserum.