NAD+
Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide — a redox coenzyme central to cellular energy metabolism. Not a peptide, but widely grouped with them in research-supply catalogues.
NAD+ is the outlier on this index: it is not a peptide. It is a dinucleotide coenzyme, with no amino-acid sequence, and it appears here because research-supply catalogues routinely list it alongside peptides and researchers arrive looking for it in the same place. See the guide what is NAD+? (and is it a peptide?) for the longer version.
Its role is twofold. As a redox carrier it cycles between NAD+ and NADH, shuttling electrons through glycolysis, the citric acid cycle and oxidative phosphorylation — the reaction that most textbooks describe. Less obviously, it is also consumed as a substrate by three enzyme families: sirtuins, PARPs and CD38. That consumption is what makes availability interesting, because those enzymes deplete the pool rather than recycling it, so NAD+ concentration becomes a limiting factor on their activity rather than a constant background.
Handling matters more than for most compounds on this index. NAD+ is labile in solution — it degrades under alkaline conditions, while its reduced partner NADH degrades under acid catalysis, leaving a narrow practical optimum near pH 8.5. Buffer choice therefore materially affects what is actually present in a preparation by the time it reaches an assay.
NAD+ is not a licensed medicine in the UK.
NAD+ is a dinucleotide coenzyme, not a peptide — it carries no amino-acid sequence. It cycles between oxidised (NAD+) and reduced (NADH) states as an electron carrier in glycolysis, the citric acid cycle and oxidative phosphorylation. Beyond redox chemistry it is consumed as a substrate by three enzyme families: sirtuins (protein deacetylases implicated in metabolic and stress-response regulation), PARPs (DNA-damage response), and CD38. Because those enzymes consume rather than recycle it, NAD+ availability is studied as a limiting factor in their activity.
- Human evidence
- Extensive basic biochemistry; precursor supplementation (NR, NMN) studied in humans with mixed results; intravenous NAD+ itself has limited controlled human data
- Regulatory status
- NAD+ is not a licensed medicine in the UK. Its precursors nicotinamide riboside (NR) and nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN) are sold as food supplements in some jurisdictions with differing legal status; intravenous NAD+ is administered in some private clinics on an unlicensed or compounded basis. Material sold by research-chemical suppliers is not quality-assured for human use.
- Study of redox balance and electron transfer in cellular energy metabolism.
- Investigation of sirtuin, PARP and CD38 activity as NAD+-consuming pathways.
- Research into the NAD+ precursor salvage pathway and the relative behaviour of NR and NMN.
- Use as a reference cofactor in enzymology and metabolic assay development.
- Reported infusion-related effects in clinical and clinic settings include nausea, chest tightness, flushing and cramping, generally described as rate-dependent.
- Long-term consequences of raising NAD+ availability are not established. Because PARP and sirtuin activity intersect with DNA repair and cell survival, the effect of sustained elevation is an open research question rather than a settled benefit.
- NAD+ is chemically labile in solution — it degrades under alkaline conditions while NADH degrades under acid catalysis, with a practical optimum near pH 8.5. Handling conditions materially affect what is actually present.
- Material sold by research-chemical suppliers is not a pharmaceutical-grade medicine and is not quality-assured for human or veterinary use.
- Class
- Dinucleotide coenzyme — not a peptide
- Total content
- 1000 mg per kit
Fill volume is not published, so a concentration cannot be derived from the product record
- Redox partner
- NADH (reduced form)
- Consuming enzyme families
- Sirtuins, PARPs, CD38
- Solution stability
- Practical optimum near pH 8.5
NAD+ is labile under alkaline conditions; NADH degrades under acid catalysis
Reported research parameters drawn from the cited literature — provided for reference only. These are not dosing, usage, or medical recommendations.
- [1]PubChem CID 5892 — NAD+pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- [2]NAD+ metabolism and its roles in cellular processes during ageing (Nature Reviews MCB)www.nature.com
- [3]PubMed — NAD+ precursor supplementation researchpubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov