[abstract] It is well known that glutamate-induced excitatory toxicity could damage nerve cells. Previous study indicated that neural cell injury from glutamate excitotoxicity may play a important role in the pathogenesis of several nervous system diseases, Nevetheless, estrogen has protective effects on neural cell injury induced by glutamate excitotoxicity and these effects may be mediated by estrogen receptor(ER).which is essentical for estrogen biological function. We reviewed some recent papers regarding to protective effects of estrogen and its receptors in neural cell injury induced by glumate. [Key words] Estrogen; Estrogen receptor; Glutamate; Neural cell injury