5-Amino-1MQ: What It Is and the Evidence

5-Amino-1MQ Is Not a Peptide Either: What It Is and What Has Been Shown

5-Amino-1MQ is a small-molecule NNMT inhibitor, not a peptide. What NNMT does, what the mouse and cell studies found, and how little of it is in humans.

Not a peptideNot approved anywhere

Caroline S · Published 2026-09-07

Length

Small molecule

Sequence

5-amino-1-methylquinolinium

Origin

A quinolinium derivative, chemically synthesised

Last reviewed

2026-09-07

What is it good for?

Fat loss and muscle regeneration, on the strength of mouse and cell work. It blocks an enzyme called NNMT, which sits close to how cells handle NAD+ — the reason it gets discussed alongside longevity compounds.

Illustration

Not a peptide

5-Amino-1MQ is 5-amino-1-methylquinolinium, a quinolinium derivative. It is a small molecule with no amino acid sequence, and it is not a peptide.

It is not the only one in this position. AICAR is a nucleoside, and SLU-PP-332 is a synthetic receptor agonist; both are sold through peptide catalogues for the same commercial reasons, and the two make an instructive pair — one has been given to more than three thousand people and failed, the other has never been given to anybody.

It shares a catalogue page with peptides, and very little else.

There is a visible clue, if anyone is looking for one: it is usually sold as a capsule to be swallowed. Peptides are generally destroyed in the digestive tract, which is why almost everything else in this library is injected — the reason is set out in the primer on what a peptide actually is. A compound that survives being swallowed is telling you something about what it is.

What it does

It inhibits an enzyme called nicotinamide N-methyltransferase, usually shortened to NNMT.

NNMT is involved in how cells process nicotinamide, which sits close to the NAD+ pathway — and NAD+ is the reason this compound gets filed alongside the compounds sold for longevity and metabolic products. MOTS-c, the other NAD+-adjacent entry here reaches the same shelf by a different route, and is at least a peptide. The reasoning is: NNMT consumes something the cell could otherwise use for NAD+; block the enzyme, and more is available.

That is a coherent piece of biochemistry. Whether pulling that lever produces a useful effect in a person is a different question, and the published record does not answer it.

What has actually been shown

In mice: selective, membrane-permeable NNMT inhibitors reversed obesity induced by a high-fat diet. This is the finding almost every claim about the compound traces back to.

Among the other compounds sold for fat loss, the construct that targets the blood vessels feeding fat tissue is the one whose mechanism differs most from everything here — it is designed to kill cells rather than to alter a signalling pathway.

In cells: 5-amino-1MQ at 30 micromolar for 24 hours changed intracellular NAD+ and nicotinic acid levels and the ratio between them in differentiated fat cells. Related work found that NNMT inhibitors did not affect the viability of 3T3-L1 pre-adipocytes at concentrations up to 100 micromolar. Separate work found the compound inhibited the proliferation of HeLa cells in a concentration- and time-dependent way.

In people: nothing was found in the published record.

Where that leaves it

The mouse result is genuinely interesting, and NNMT is a real target that serious groups are working on. What does not follow is that swallowing this compound produces fat loss or muscle regeneration in a person. That step has not been taken in the literature, and every confident statement about human results is filling a gap rather than reporting one.

It is not approved anywhere, for anything.

Last checked

2026-09-07.

What the research shows

Reversing diet-induced obesity

Mice on a high-fat diet; no human trials

Effects on NAD+ handling in fat cells

Cell studies in differentiated adipocytes

Anything demonstrated in people

Nothing found in the published record

Bars show how much of the evidence is in humans, not how well anything works.

Where it stands

Chemical class

A quinolinium derivative — a small molecule, not a peptide.

Approved as a medicine

Nowhere, for anything.

Human evidence

None located in the published literature.

Sold as

A research chemical, frequently as an oral capsule, which is itself unusual for this catalogue.

Frequently asked questions

Is 5-Amino-1MQ a peptide?

No. It is 5-amino-1-methylquinolinium, a quinolinium derivative — a small molecule with no amino acid sequence. Like tesofensine, it is sold in peptide catalogues for commercial rather than chemical reasons.

What does it actually do?

It inhibits an enzyme called nicotinamide N-methyltransferase, usually shortened to NNMT. That enzyme is involved in how cells process nicotinamide, which sits close to the NAD+ pathway — the reason the compound gets discussed alongside longevity and metabolic compounds. Inhibiting NNMT is a plausible metabolic lever; whether pulling it does anything useful in a person is a separate question.

What has been shown?

In mice, selective membrane-permeable NNMT inhibitors reversed obesity induced by a high-fat diet. In cells, 5-amino-1MQ at 30 micromolar for 24 hours changed intracellular NAD+ and nicotinic acid levels and the ratio between them, and related work found no effect on cell viability up to 100 micromolar. That is the shape of the evidence: cells and mice.

Is there any human evidence?

None was located in the published record. The claims made for it in people are extrapolations from mouse and cell studies, which is a step the published literature has not taken.

Why is it sold as a capsule when most of these compounds are injected?

Because it is a small molecule rather than a peptide. Most peptides are destroyed in the digestive tract, which is why they are injected; a small molecule of this kind can survive being swallowed. The oral format is a consequence of it not being a peptide, which is the thing most listings do not mention.