This study aimed to investigate whether lupeol, a pentacyclic triterpenoid, affects glutamate release in isolated nerve terminals (synaptosomes) from the rat cerebral cortex and whether lupeol affects the excitotoxicity induced by kainic acid (KA) in rats. In rat cerebrocortical synaptosomes, lupeol reduced glutamate release in a manner that could be blocked by extracellular Ca