kainic acid
noun
kai·nic acid
| \ ˌkī-nik-
, ˌkā-
\
, ˌkā-
\
Medical Definition of kainic acid
: an excitatory neurotoxin C10H15NO4 that is a glutamate analog originally isolated from a dried red alga (Digenia simplex), that binds selectively to a subset of glutamate receptors which serve as ligand-gated ion channels on neurons, and that is used as an anthelmintic and experimentally to induce seizures and neurodegeneration in laboratory animals