AICAR Research Compound

AICAR is 5-aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide ribonucleoside, also called acadesine. It is a small nucleoside made of an imidazole ring joined to ribose, not a peptide. Inside cells it is phosphorylated to ZMP, which mimics AMP and activates the energy-sensing enzyme AMPK, and it has been used in laboratory research on AMPK, muscle metabolism and purine synthesis since the 1990s.

The letters come from the chemical name: 5-AminoImidazole-4-CArboxamide Ribonucleoside. Papers also write it as AICA riboside or AICAr, with a small “r” to mark the riboside. Acadesine is its international non-proprietary name, used mainly in the clinical literature, and older papers sometimes call it Z-riboside, from its link to ZMP.

No. AICAR is the riboside, the form researchers add to cells, with a molecular weight of about 258. ZMP, also called AICA ribotide, carries an extra phosphate group and weighs about 338. Cells make ZMP from AICAR, and ZMP is the form that acts on AMPK. Some databases and papers use “AICAR” loosely for both, so checking the CAS number, 2627-69-2 for the riboside, avoids confusion.

AICAR is carried into the cell by nucleoside transporters and then phosphorylated by adenosine kinase to ZMP. ZMP binds AMPK in the same way as AMP, activating it directly and making it easier for upstream kinases to phosphorylate. Blocking nucleoside transport or adenosine kinase prevents the effect, which is why both steps are often checked in cell studies.

AMP-activated protein kinase is an enzyme that senses the cell’s energy level. When ATP falls and AMP rises, AMPK switches off energy-using processes such as fat and cholesterol synthesis and switches on energy-producing ones such as fatty acid oxidation. It is studied in metabolism, muscle biology, ageing and cancer research, and AICAR was one of the first ways to activate it in intact cells.

Its phosphorylated form, ZMP, is a natural intermediate in the de novo pathway that cells use to build the purines adenine and guanine. That is why AICAR was first studied in the 1980s as a precursor for rebuilding ATP and GTP in muscle, and why changes in purine synthesis, such as those reported for MOTS-c, can raise the cell’s own AICAR nucleotide levels.

Yes. AICAR is named as an AMPK activator under the metabolic modulators section of the World Anti-Doping Agency Prohibited List; Crown Peptides supplies it solely for laboratory research.

In a 1997 study, rat hindlimb muscle was perfused with AICAR at 2 millimolar for 45 minutes. AMPK was activated, its target acetyl-CoA carboxylase was switched off and malonyl-CoA fell. Fatty acid oxidation rose 2.8-fold and glucose uptake increased, while oxygen uptake stayed the same, which linked AMPK directly to fuel choice in muscle.

The researchers gave sedentary mice AICAR for four weeks and found that it switched on metabolic genes in skeletal muscle and increased treadmill running endurance by 44%, without any training. They also showed that a PPAR-delta agonist combined with training increased oxidative muscle fibres. The paper, titled “AMPK and PPARdelta agonists are exercise mimetics”, popularised the term.

No. In leukaemia cell studies, AICAR still triggered cell death in B cells from mice lacking AMPK-alpha-1, and other AMPK activators did not reproduce the effect. Because ZMP is also a purine intermediate, AICAR can alter nucleotide pools directly. A 2021 systematic review lists many such AMPK-independent effects and recommends confirming results with genetic models or a second activator.

Yes. It was studied as an intravenous infusion in people undergoing coronary artery bypass surgery. The large RED-CABG trial, reported in 2012, was stopped early for futility after 3,080 participants, with no difference from placebo in its main outcome. Acadesine has also been studied in leukaemia cells and in an early-phase leukaemia trial.

AICAR is not a controlled drug under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, including the Class C group covering anabolic steroids and growth hormones, and it is not a licensed medicine in the UK; acadesine was investigated in clinical trials but has not been authorised. It is sold in the UK as a research compound for laboratory use only, which is how Crown Peptides supplies it. This is general information, not legal advice.

AICAR is coming soon to Crown Peptides in 50mg vials, available singly or in packs of 3, 5 or 10 with a saving on every vial. Orders ship from the UK, and every batch is independently tested, with its Certificate of Analysis published on this page once stock arrives.

Fifty milligrams of a 258-dalton nucleoside is roughly 194 micromoles. AICAR is used at much higher concentrations than most research compounds, typically 0.5 to 2 millimolar in the published cell and muscle work, so a vial makes roughly 390 millilitres of medium at 0.5 millimolar. The 5 and 10-vial packs keep a longer project on a single batch.

Keep the unreconstituted powder at -20°C ± 5°C, dry and away from light. As a nucleoside with a free amino group and several hydroxyl groups, it is best kept sealed to limit moisture uptake. Prepared solutions should follow storage conditions validated for your study design, and each batch’s Certificate of Analysis documents the material as dispatched.