AMPA

AMPA (alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid) is a specific agonist for the AMPA receptor.

AMPA mimics the effect of glutamate. There are two broad categories of glutamate receptors: ionotropic receptors and metabotropic receptors. Ionotropic receptors are ligand gated channels whose agonists include AMPA, Kainate and NMDA. Metabatropic receptors are G-protein coupled receptors and are separated into individual classes. In the synapse these receptors are believed to serve very different purposes, most of the function is linked to the CNS. AMPA can be used experimentally to distinguish the activity of one receptor from the other in order to understand their differing functions. AMPA generates fast excitatory post synaptic potentials (EPSP)