N-[2-(1H-indol-3-yl)ethyl]-acetamide

A structural analog of melatonin that binds the melatonin MT2 receptor (Ki = 0.41 nM). It acts as a melatonin receptor antagonist in frog skin and chicken retina and as a partial agonist in rabbit retina. N-acetyl tryptamine also is a reaction product of assays for serotonin N-acetyltransferase in the melatonin biosynthetic pathway. References: Melatonin receptor pharmacology: Toward subtype specificity; D. Sugden, H. Pickering, M.T. Teh, et al.; Biol. Cell 1997; 89(8): 531-537. Characterization of a retinal melatonin receptor; M.L. Dubocovich; J. Pharmacol. Exp. Ther. 1985; 234(2): 395-401. Ligand efficacy and potency at recombinant human MT2 melatonin receptors: Evidence for agonist activity of some mt1-antagonists; R. Nonno, M. Pannacci, V. Lucini et al.; Br. J. Pharmacol. 2016; 127(5): 1288-1294. Melatonin receptor antagonists that differentiate between the human Mel1a and Mel1b recombinant subtypes are used to assess the pharmacological profile of the rabbit retina ML1 presynaptic heteroreceptor. Dubocovich, M.L., Masana, M.I., Iacob, S., et al.; Naunyn Schmiedebergs Arch. Pharmacol. 1997; 355(3): 365-375. Kinetic analysis of the catalytic mechanism of serotonin N-acetyltransferase (EC 2.3.1.87). DeAngelis, J., Gastel, J., Klein, D.C., et al.; J. Biol. Chem. 1998; 273(5): 3045-3050.