4-methylthioamphetamine

4-Methylthioamphetamine (4-MTA), also known as '''para-methylthioamphetamine (MTA'), is a designer drug of the substituted amphetamine class developed in the 1990s by a team led by David E. Nichols, an American pharmacologist and medical chemist, at Purdue University. It acts as a non-neurotoxic highly selective serotonin releasing agent (SSRA) in animals. 4-MTA is the methylthio derivative of amphetamine.

==Use and effects== 4-MTA is a strong serotonin releaser similar to para''-methoxyamphetamine (PMA), which can cause pronounced hyperthermia potentially resulting in organ failure and death. Therefore, the major neuropharmacological effect is an increased release of serotonin, and the inhibition of serotonin uptake of monoamine oxidase A (MAO-A). The combination of the releasing of serotonin from neurons and the prevention of breaking this neurotransmitter down again, leads to dangerous serotonin syndrome. The serotonin syndrome is a hyper serotonergic state, which can become fatal and is a side effect of serotonergic drugs. The symptoms of serotonin syndrome caused by 4-MTA are described in the Report on the Risk Assessment of 4-MTA