Abstract: The role of the glutamate dehydrogenase reaction as a pathway of glutamate synthesis was studied by incubating synaptosomes with 5 mM15NH4Cl and then utilizing gas chromatography‐mass spectrometry to measure isotopic enrichment in glutamate and aspartate. The rate of formation of I15N]glutamatc and [15N]aspartate from 5 mM15NH4Cl was ∼0.2 nmol/min/mg of protein, a value much less than flux through glutaminase (4.8 nmol/min/mg of protein) but greater than flux through glutamine synthetase (0.045 nmol/min/mg of protein). Addition of 1 mM 2‐oxoglutarate to the medium did not affect the rate of [15N]glutamate formation. O2 consumption and lactate formation were increased in the presence of 5 mMNH3, whereas the intrasynaptosomal concentrations of glutamate and aspartate were unaffected. Treatment of synaptosomes with veratridine stimulated reductive amination of 2‐oxoglutarate during the early time points. The production of ([15N]glutamate + [15N]aspartate) was enhanced about twofold in the presence of 5 mM β‐(±)‐ 2‐aminobicyclo[2.2.1]heptane‐2‐carboxylic acid, a known effector of glutamate dehydrogenase. Supplementation of the incubation medium with a mixture of unlabelled amino acids at concentrations similar to those present in the extracellular fluid of the brain had little effect on the intrasynaptosomal [glutamate] and [aspartate]. However, the enrichment in these amino acids was consistently greater in the presence of supplementary amino acids, which appeared to stimulate modestly the reductive amination of 2‐oxoglutarate. It is concluded: (a) compared with the phosphate‐dependent glutaminase reaction, reductive amination is a relatively minor pathway of synaptosomal glutamate synthesis in both the basal state and during depolarization; (b) NH3 toxicity, at least in synaptosomes, is not referable to energy failure caused by a depletion of 2‐oxoglutarate in the glutamate dehydrogenase reaction; and (c) transamination is not a major mechanism of glutamate nitrogen production in nerve endings.