Nicotinamide riboside CAS 1341-23-7

Chemical Properties:

1. Nicotinamide Riboside (NR) is a next-generation vitamin B3 that has been found to be naturally-occurring in milk in trace amounts. The metabolism of NR is unique from that of other more commonly known forms of vitamin B3 , nicotinamide and nicotinic acid. Specifically, NR has been shown in a pre-clinical study to be the most effective form of vitamin B3 at increasing nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+)2 .

2. Nicotinic acid (also known as niacin) and nicotinamide (also known as niacinamide) were discovered in the 1930’s to be the factors that cured pellagra . Niacin is known to cause severe flushing . In 2004, nicotinamide riboside emerged as a newly discovered NAD+ precursor and does not bind to the receptor responsible for flushing.

3. NR has pre-clinically demonstrated that it is superior to both niacin and nicotinamide, both of which are standard forms of vitamin B3 commonly used in vitamin supplements and foods, at boosting NAD+2 . This is due to the fact that NR is not reliant upon a conversion step requiring the enzyme “NAMPT” , see Figure below. The activity level of NAMPT determines the amount of nicotinamide that is converted into NAD+ , which is why this particular step in the process is often referred to as the “rate limiting step”. As normal aging occurs, the activity of NAMPT is thought to decrease. NR can be used by the cell to make NAD+ without this enzymatic step.

4. Nicotinamide riboside (NR) is part of the B3 vitamin family. Like other forms of vitamin B3, nicotinamide riboside gets converted into nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+), a coenzyme essential for life. For this reason, it is often called a NAD+ precursor because it is part of the series of chemical steps that are required to create NAD+.
   Different biosynthetic pathways are responsible for converting the different B3 vitamins into NAD+. The enzyme nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferase (Nampt) catalyzes the rate-limiting step of the two-step pathway converting nicotinamide to NAD+. NR kinase enzymes can also function as a salvage pathway for NAD+, but this pathway is not essential.

Application:

Nicotinamide riboside is important because it is a potent and bioavailable pre-cursor to NAD+. NAD+ is essential to life and is known to be vital to functions that ensure proper cellular and energy metabolism. The most well-known function of NAD+ is the transferring of electrons to the machinery in the cell that produces ATP, the energy currency of all cells.
NAD+ is increasingly being shown to have important functions beyond electron transfer. One of the most promising potential roles for NR as a pre-cursor to NAD+ is activation of sirtuins, enzymes associated with a wide variety of functions related to metabolism and longevity.