AMPA is the defining agonist for the AMPA subgroup of ionotropic glutamate receptors, which mediate excitatory neurotransmission. Because AMPA does not interfere with binding sites for kainic acid or NMDA , it can be used to distinguish AMPA receptor-specific activity that contributes to a neuronal response. (R,S)-AMPA contains an equal mixture of the active (S)-enantiomer and the inactive (R)-enantiomer.
