The function of serotonin afferents to the cerebellum has been investigated by monitoring the effects of serotoninergic drugs on the production of cyclic GMP elicited in cerebellar slices by activation of ionotropic glutamate receptors. Exposure of adult rat cerebellar slices to N-methyl-D-aspartate (1 nM to 1 microM) or to (RS)-alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionate (AMPA; 1 nM to 10 microM) elicited concentration-dependent and saturable rises in the levels of cyclic GMP. These responses were blocked by selective antagonists at the N-methyl-D-aspartate or AMPA receptors and by inhibiting nitric oxide synthase, but were insensitive to tetrodotoxin. When tested between 0.1 and 10 nM, serotonin, the serotonin1A receptor agonist (+/-)-8-hydroxy-2-(di-n-propylamino)tetralin and the serotonin2 receptor agonist (+/-)-1-(2,5-dimethoxy-4-iodophenyl)-2-aminopropane inhibited, concentration-dependently, the cyclic GMP responses evoked by near-maximal (0.1 microM) concentrations of N-methyl-D-aspartate or AMPA. The EC50 values (concentrations causing half-maximal effect) ranged between 0.7 and 2.1 nM. The actions of serotonin were totally abolished by methiothepin, a mixed-type serotonin receptor antagonist. Thus, the serotonergic cerebellar afferents may exert a potent inhibitory control on the excitatory transmission mediated by N-methyl-D-aspartate and AMPA receptors; the inhibition occurs through both serotonin1A and serotonin2 receptors. As the glutamate receptor-dependent cyclic GMP responses involve production of nitric oxide, a diffusible activator of guanylate cyclase, the above inhibitory serotonin receptors may have multiple localization.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)