5-Iodowillardiine is a selective

agonist An agonist is a chemical that activates a Receptor (biochemistry), receptor to produce a biological response. Receptors are Cell (biology), cellular proteins whose activation causes the cell to modify what it is currently doing. In contrast, an R ...

for some kainate receptor subunits with only limited effects at

AMPA receptor The α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid receptor (AMPA receptor, AMPAR, or quisqualate receptor) is an ionotropic receptor, ionotropic glutamate receptor (iGluR) and predominantly sodium ion channel that mediates fast excitator ...

s. It activates kainate receptors containing GluK1 (GluR5) or GluK5 (KA2) subunits, but it does not act on GluK2 (GluR6) subunits. It is an excitotoxic

neurotoxin Neurotoxins are toxins that are destructive to nervous tissue, nerve tissue (causing neurotoxicity). Neurotoxins are an extensive class of exogenous chemical neurological insult (medical), insultsSpencer 2000 that can adversely affect function ...

''in vivo'', but has proved highly useful for characterising the subtypes and function of the various kainate receptors in the

brain The brain is an organ (biology), organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It consists of nervous tissue and is typically located in the head (cephalization), usually near organs for ...

and

spinal cord The spinal cord is a long, thin, tubular structure made up of nervous tissue that extends from the medulla oblongata in the lower brainstem to the lumbar region of the vertebral column (backbone) of vertebrate animals. The center of the spinal c ...

References

2,3-Diaminopropionic acids Neurotoxins Kainate receptor agonists Pyrimidines Amino acid derivatives Iodoarenes {{pharma-stub