Research-grade material. A Janoshik report for this compound is available on request. For research use only.
A Small Molecule, Not a Peptide
5-Amino-1MQ is worth naming plainly at the start: it is a small molecule, not a peptide. Structurally it is a quinolinium compound, and it belongs to a research category defined by a single enzyme target: nicotinamide N-methyltransferase, abbreviated NNMT.
NNMT sits inside fat cells, where it consumes a molecule called S-adenosylmethionine, or SAM, using it to methylate nicotinamide. Researchers investigating metabolic disease became interested in NNMT because the enzyme is reported as markedly upregulated in obese adipose tissue, and because reducing its activity in research models has been linked to a shift in cellular metabolism toward fat oxidation rather than fat storage. 5-Amino-1MQ was developed as a selective, membrane-permeable small-molecule inhibitor of that enzyme, built specifically to test that hypothesis in living systems.
What Researchers Have Studied
The founding study (Neelakantan et al., Biochemical Pharmacology, 2018). Researchers ran an 11-day proof-of-concept study in diet-induced obese mice, dosing systemically three times daily. Compared with controls, treated mice showed reduced body weight and reduced white adipose mass over the study period. This is the paper that established 5-Amino-1MQ as a research tool for studying NNMT inhibition in vivo. PMID 29155147. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29155147/
Combined with a reduced-calorie diet (Sampson et al., Scientific Reports, 2021). A follow-up study examined 5-Amino-1MQ paired with a reduced-calorie diet in diet-induced obese mice, compared with diet alone. The combination produced greater cumulative body weight loss (6.3g versus 2.9g with diet alone) and substantially greater fat mass loss (approximately 29.3% versus approximately 2.9% with diet alone), with body composition moving toward levels seen in lean control animals. The study also reported reduced liver steatosis scores in the treated group. PMID 33707534. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33707534/
Both studies are mouse research. Neither is a human trial, and neither should be read as one.
How It Works
Fat cells regulate their own metabolic rate partly through NNMT activity. NNMT uses SAM, a methyl donor the cell also needs for many other biochemical processes, to methylate nicotinamide. In research models, high NNMT activity in adipose tissue has been associated with metabolic dysfunction, and inhibiting the enzyme has been linked to restored SAM availability and a shift in cellular energy handling toward oxidation.
5-Amino-1MQ was designed to cross cell membranes and selectively inhibit NNMT inside the cell, which is the mechanistic basis researchers have used to study this pathway in the diet-induced obesity models described above.
What the Research Does Not Establish
Read this part twice. The honest limits matter more than the headlines.
- No human trials of 5-Amino-1MQ have been published. Everything cited above is mouse research.
- Diet-induced obesity mouse models are a standard research tool for studying metabolic disease, but they do not reliably predict human outcomes, dosing, or timelines. Researchers have not established these results in people.
- The mechanism, NNMT inhibition and SAM depletion in adipose tissue, is a research hypothesis under active investigation, supported by the animal data above, not a settled human physiological finding.
- This page is a research summary only. It does not say the compound does anything “for you.”
Further Reading
For the at-a-glance summary, see 5-Amino-1MQ Research.
Where This Material Stands
We have not found another vendor in this category attributing 5-Amino-1MQ’s studies to their correct, separate research program rather than blending it with other NNMT inhibitors under development elsewhere. 5-Amino-1MQ is a new addition to Etched’s retail research catalog. Where an independent laboratory report exists for a compound, the measurements are published on the COA page, including the compounds we hold no report for.
Buyer-intent tag
Metabolic research / NNMT inhibition
Research Use Only. 5-Amino-1MQ is supplied for research use only and is not for human consumption, diagnosis, treatment, or any clinical or therapeutic application. This material is intended solely for use by qualified researchers in controlled laboratory settings. Nothing in this article describes a property the compound delivers or constitutes a recommendation for use in humans. All findings referenced above were observed in mouse models and describe only what investigators measured in those studies.
Research-grade material. A Janoshik report for this compound is available on request. For research use only.
For Research Use Only. Not for human consumption. Etched Research supplies compounds for laboratory and research use only. Nothing on this page is medical advice, a health claim, or a recommendation to use.