(RS)-AMPA ((±)-AMPA) is a glutamate analog. (RS)-AMPA is an agonist of effective and selective excitatory neurotransmitter L-glutamic acid.

(RS)-AMPA exerts its depolarizing effects by activating glutamate/quisqualate receptors without affecting NMDA receptors. (RS)-AMPA causes an increase of the discharge rate of spontaneously firing neurones or sometimes evoked a short burst of action potentials in silent cells. The depolarization by (RS)-AMPA is clearly dose-dependent, although there is great variability of effects between individual neurones. (RS)-AMPA (10-3-10-4 M) induces depolarizations of cultured rat spinal and brainstem neurones. Application of (RS)-AMPA at 10-5 M produces only small depolarizations (3-7 mV), whereas, at 10-4 M, the amplitudes of the depolarizations ranged from 4 to 33 mV [1].