-1-Phenyl-2-propylaminopentane ((-)-PPAP) is a drug

Drug

A drug, broadly speaking, is any substance that, when absorbed into the body of a living organism, alters normal bodily function. There is no single, precise definition, as there are different meanings in drug control law, government regulations, medicine, and colloquial usage.In pharmacology, a...

 with an unusual effects profile. It can loosely be grouped with the stimulant

Stimulant

Stimulants are psychoactive drugs which induce temporary improvements in either mental or physical function or both. Examples of these kinds of effects may include enhanced alertness, wakefulness, and locomotion, among others...

 or antidepressant

Antidepressant

An antidepressant is a psychiatric medication used to alleviate mood disorders, such as major depression and dysthymia and anxiety disorders such as social anxiety disorder. According to Gelder, Mayou &*Geddes people with a depressive illness will experience a therapeutic effect to their mood;...

 drug families, but its mechanism of action is quite different.

PPAP is classified as a catecholaminergic

Catecholamine

Catecholamines are molecules that have a catechol nucleus consisting of benzene with two hydroxyl side groups and a side-chain amine. They include dopamine, as well as the "fight-or-flight" hormones adrenaline and noradrenaline released by the adrenal medulla of the adrenal glands in response to...

 and serotonergic

Serotonergic

Serotonergic or serotoninergic means "related to the neurotransmitter serotonin". A synapse is serotonergic if it uses serotonin as its neurotransmitter...

 activity enhancer. This means that it stimulates the impulse

Action potential

In physiology, an action potential is a short-lasting event in which the electrical membrane potential of a cell rapidly rises and falls, following a consistent trajectory. Action potentials occur in several types of animal cells, called excitable cells, which include neurons, muscle cells, and...

 propagation mediated transmitter release of the neurotransmitter

Neurotransmitter

Neurotransmitters are endogenous chemicals that transmit signals from a neuron to a target cell across a synapse. Neurotransmitters are packaged into synaptic vesicles clustered beneath the membrane on the presynaptic side of a synapse, and are released into the synaptic cleft, where they bind to...

s dopamine

Dopamine

Dopamine is a catecholamine neurotransmitter present in a wide variety of animals, including both vertebrates and invertebrates. In the brain, this substituted phenethylamine functions as a neurotransmitter, activating the five known types of dopamine receptors—D1, D2, D3, D4, and D5—and their...

, norepinephrine

Norepinephrine

Norepinephrine is the US name for noradrenaline , a catecholamine with multiple roles including as a hormone and a neurotransmitter...

 and serotonin

Serotonin

Serotonin or 5-hydroxytryptamine is a monoamine neurotransmitter. Biochemically derived from tryptophan, serotonin is primarily found in the gastrointestinal tract, platelets, and in the central nervous system of animals including humans...

 in the brain (although unlike the newer and more potent compound BPAP

(-)-1-(Benzofuran-2-yl)-2-propylaminopentane

BPAP may also refer to the mode of mechanical ventilation known as BPAP or BPAP-1--2-propylaminopentane is a drug with an unusual effects profile...

, it has less impact on serotonin release and affects mainly the catecholamines). Unlike stimulant drugs like amphetamines, which release a flood of monoamine neurotransmitters in an uncontrolled manner, PPAP instead only increases the amount of neurotransmitter that gets released when a neuron

Neuron

A neuron is an electrically excitable cell that processes and transmits information by electrical and chemical signaling. Chemical signaling occurs via synapses, specialized connections with other cells. Neurons connect to each other to form networks. Neurons are the core components of the nervous...

 is stimulated by receiving an impulse from a neighbouring neuron. So while both amphetamines and PPAP increase the amount of neurotransmitters that get released, amphetamines cause neurons to dump neurotransmitter stores into the synapse

Synapse

In the nervous system, a synapse is a structure that permits a neuron to pass an electrical or chemical signal to another cell...

 regardless of external input, while with PPAP the pattern of neurotransmitter release is not changed, but when the neuron would normally release neurotransmitter, a larger amount than normal is released.

Other drugs which produce this effect are the endogenous

Endogenous

Endogenous substances are those that originate from within an organism, tissue, or cell. Endogenous retroviruses are caused by ancient infections of germ cells in humans, mammals and other vertebrates...

 trace amine

Trace amine

Trace amines are endogenous compounds structurally related to classical biogenic amines, such as catecholamines, serotonin and histamine. Trace amines include p-tyramine, β-phenylethylamine, tryptamine, octopamine, and 3-iodothyronamine, and are found in the nervous systems of animals from insects...

s phenethylamine

Phenethylamine

Phenylethylamine or phenethylamine is a natural monoamine alkaloid, trace amine, and also the name of a class of chemicals with many members well known for psychoactive drug and stimulant effects. Studies suggest that phenylethylamine functions as a neuromodulator or neurotransmitter in the...

 and tyramine

Tyramine

Tyramine is a naturally occurring monoamine compound and trace amine derived from the amino acid tyrosine. Tyramine acts as a catecholamine releasing agent...

, and the neuroprotective MAO-B

Monoamine oxidase B

Monoamine oxidase B, also known as MAOB, is a protein that in humans is encoded by the MAOB gene.The protein encoded by this gene belongs to the flavin monoamine oxidase family. It is an enzyme located in the mitochondrial outer membrane...

 inhibitor

Monoamine oxidase inhibitor

Monoamine oxidase inhibitors are a class of antidepressant drugs prescribed for the treatment of depression. They are particularly effective in treating atypical depression....

 selegiline

Selegiline

Selegiline is a drug used for the treatment of early-stage Parkinson's disease, depression and senile dementia. In normal clinical doses it is a selective irreversible MAO-B inhibitor, however in larger doses it loses its specificity and also inhibits MAO-A...

. However, while selegiline is a potent monoamine oxidase inhibitor

Monoamine oxidase inhibitor

Monoamine oxidase inhibitors are a class of antidepressant drugs prescribed for the treatment of depression. They are particularly effective in treating atypical depression....

, PPAP has no monoamine oxidase

Monoamine oxidase

L-Monoamine oxidases are a family of enzymes that catalyze the oxidation of monoamines. They are found bound to the outer membrane of mitochondria in most cell types in the body. The enzyme was originally discovered by Mary Bernheim in the liver and was named tyramine oxidase...

inhibitory activity, and produces only the activity enhancer effect.