5-Amino-1MQ is a synthetic small molecule studied in preclinical metabolic research for its role in NNMT enzyme inhibition and NAD+ pathway modulation in controlled laboratory settings.
5-Amino-1-methylquinolinium (5-Amino-1MQ) is a synthetic small molecule investigated in preclinical metabolic and mitochondrial research. CAS: 3289-27-8. Structurally classified as a quinolinium derivative, 5-Amino-1MQ has drawn research interest as a selective, cell-permeable inhibitor of nicotinamide N-methyltransferase (NNMT), an enzyme increasingly implicated in adipocyte metabolism, hepatic function, and cellular energy regulation. Unlike peptide-based research compounds, 5-Amino-1MQ is a low-molecular-weight organic molecule, a distinction that has made it a useful pharmacological tool for probing NNMT activity in isolated cell culture systems.
NNMT is a cytosolic enzyme that catalyzes the methylation of nicotinamide using S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) as a methyl donor, producing 1-methylnicotinamide and S-adenosylhomocysteine as byproducts. Because nicotinamide is a direct precursor in the NAD+ salvage pathway, elevated NNMT activity diverts this substrate away from NAD+ regeneration and depletes the cellular SAM pool available for other methylation reactions. Research has associated increased NNMT expression with adipose tissue expansion and altered hepatic metabolic profiles in preclinical models, which has positioned NNMT inhibition — and 5-Amino-1MQ specifically — as a research strategy for studying nicotinamide flux and methyl-donor availability at the cellular level.
In cultured cell models, NNMT inhibition by 5-Amino-1MQ has been studied for its effect on intracellular NAD+ and SAM concentrations, with reported increases in both metabolites following treatment. Elevated NAD+ availability is of particular interest because it serves as a required cofactor for sirtuin enzymes, including SIRT1, which regulate downstream transcriptional programs such as PGC-1α activation — a central driver of mitochondrial biogenesis. Preclinical adipocyte and hepatocyte research has examined whether this NNMT–NAD+–sirtuin axis contributes to changes in mitochondrial density and oxidative metabolism markers observed in treated cell cultures, though the mechanistic chain remains an active area of investigation.
NuvoTide's 5-Amino-1MQ is supplied as a lyophilized powder, HPLC verified to ≥99% purity, and should be stored at -20°C prior to reconstitution. All NuvoTide Research products, including 5-Amino-1MQ, are supplied strictly for in-vitro laboratory research purposes and are not intended for human or veterinary use, and are not FDA-approved.
For in-vitro research use only. Not for human or veterinary use.