AICAR_Dosage, benefits & legal status
Also known as acadesine, AICA riboside, 5-aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide riboside, AICA ribonucleotide
An AMPK activator sold as exercise in a vial, at doses nobody could realistically use.
Common vial size is what vendors typically sell, not a recommendation. Enter your own vial in the calculator.
What is AICAR?
Plain language first. The technical label stays, but it never stands alone.Overview
A chemical that flips the same switch exercise flips. The study everyone quotes was in mice, at doses that do not scale to people.
AICAR (acadesine), a nucleoside analog converted intracellularly to ZMP, an AMP mimetic that allosterically activates AMP-activated protein kinase. Investigated clinically as a cardioprotective agent during coronary artery bypass surgery. Exercise mimetic reputation derives from rodent endurance studies. Prohibited by WADA under S4.4.
What it's used for
Sold for endurance and fat loss as a chemical way to copy the effects of training.
How does AICAR work?
What it does in the body, and where.AICAR is not a peptide. It is a nucleoside analog, included here because it is sold on the same shelves.
- 01It mimics low cellular energyInside the cell it is converted to a molecule resembling AMP, which activates AMPK. AMPK is the switch that tells a cell it is running low on fuel and should burn rather than store.
- 02The famous study was in miceThe exercise-in-a-pill reputation comes from work showing sedentary mice given AICAR ran further. The doses were substantial and given to animals a fraction of a person's size.
- 03Its real clinical history is cardiac surgeryUnder the name acadesine it was investigated to protect the heart during bypass surgery, given intravenously in the hospital. That program is where the human safety information comes from, and it is a different setting from a vial bought online.
What else is it used for?
Each use below carries its own evidence level. Approved means regulators have cleared it for that purpose. Investigational means it is in trials. Early research means it is being studied and is not established.
- Endurance without training, the exercise mimetic claimEarly research
- Fat oxidation and glucose uptakeEarly research
- Cardiac protection during surgery, its actual clinical investigationInvestigational
The published record
Papers and trials about AICAR
203 papers tagged human · 127 not reviews or lab · 7 clinical trial publications
5 registered trials · 1 with posted results
Furthest stage reached: Phase 1, completed, no results posted
Compare this against the whole library →
Prohibited at all times, in and out of competition. S4.4.1 Metabolic modulators: activators of AMPK, e.g. AICAR. Non-Specified.RegulatorsCounted from Europe PMC indexing, not read by a person; a human tag can land on reviews, commentary or lab papers; clinical trial publications is the narrower count. 500 papers and 5 trials indexed in detail.
At a glance
Four things to know about AICAR
Evidence
Category
Weight loss and metabolic
Common vial
Varies
Half-life
Nothing published
How much, and do you cycle it?
The range, and whether you take breaks.42 mg/kg per dose, single infusion in the trial. Not established No range
No schedule has been studied for this compound in people.
Nothing publishedNo figure
Pharmacokinetics were characterized in the intravenous cardiac surgery program. No figure is recorded here for subcutaneous use, which is how it is sold.
You can compare this against the whole library to see where it sits.
How do I dose and price it?
Enter your vial and your dose. Pick a mix. We show the draw and the cost.The vial holds a fixed amount of drug. Adding more water does not make more drug, it just spreads it thinner, so you draw a bigger number on the syringe for the same dose.
Dosed by body weight, into a vein, during heart surgery. The phase 3 trial infused 42 mg per kg over about seven hours, a rate of 0.1 mg per kg per minute, in 3,080 people having bypass surgery. Body-weight dose given as a hospital infusion. The calculator has no body-weight input and this is not a self-administered route.
AICAR starts at $31.99 across 18 vendors, typically $0.90 – $1.24 per mg.
20 listings, last read Oct 11, 2026. Shipping and card fees are not included.
How do you store it?
Before mixing, and after.Dry powder in the freezer or fridge. Once mixed, fridge, and use within about a month.
Unmixed lyophilized AICAR keeps for a long time cold. Once you add water the clock starts: most reconstituted vials hold up for roughly 28 to 30 days at fridge temperature. Keep it out of light, and do not freeze it after mixing.
What are the side effects and cautions?
Known cautions and warnings for this compound.Who should avoid it
- Pregnancy or breastfeeding
- Anyone competing in drug-tested sport
- Any heart or kidney condition, without medical advice
- Anyone who wants established safety data, because none exists for this compound in humans
Stop and get help
- Signs of an allergic reaction, including spreading hives, facial or throat swelling, or trouble breathing
- Redness, heat, or pus at the injection site, which can signal infection
- Anything unusual, since there is no known safety profile to compare it against
Common effects
- Unknown for the way it is sold. No study has given it subcutaneously to healthy people
- Redness, soreness, or a small bump at the injection site
Where this page says nothing is established, that means nobody has studied it, not that a compound is safe.
Is AICAR approved?
And where the numbers on this page come from.No. AICAR is not approved for any use, anywhere. It is sold labeled for laboratory research only, and there is no legal route to buy it for human use.
- Approval statusResearch only
- RouteUnder the skin, or into a vein
- Checked22 September 2026
- DoseFrom published clinical trials. Not approved by a regulator for this dose.
- Vial sizeFrom what vendors typically list; not a recommendation.
- SourcesNone traced yet.
What has happened recently
Prohibited in sport at all times by WADA under section S4.4, metabolic modulators. AICAR is named as an AMPK activator and GW501516 is named explicitly as a PPAR-delta agonist.
What regulators say
From official documentsProhibited at all times, in and out of competition. S4.4.1 Metabolic modulators: activators of AMPK, e.g. AICAR. Non-Specified.
Checked 12 September 2026WADA: The 2026 Prohibited List (in force 1 January 2026)
Banned in drug-tested sport. Most research peptides are prohibited under WADA's S0 category, which covers any substance with no approval from any regulatory authority for human use. That means a compound can be banned without ever being named on the prohibited list. Check with your own anti-doping authority rather than assuming absence from the list means permitted.
You can compare this against the whole library, or read how to check a seller.
If you're weighing AICAR, it's worth reading Humanin, BAM15, and Pancragen in the same class.
An AMPK activator sold as exercise in a vial, at doses nobody could realistically use.
- Dose
- 42 mg/kg per dose
- How often
- Single infusion in the trial
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Guides for this compound
- How to Reconstitute a Peptide
Mix peptide powder with bacteriostatic water, step by step.
- How to Read an Insulin Syringe
Read the units, convert to millilitres, and draw the exact dose.
- mcg vs mg: The Peptide Dosing Mistake to Avoid
Your vial says mg and your protocol says mcg. Here is the conversion and how to check it.
- How to Read a Peptide COA
What the purity number does and does not tell you, and how to spot an edited report.
- How to Vet a Peptide Vendor
Independent COAs, HPLC purity, and the red flags that mean walk away.
Sources
No primary source has been traced for this compound yet. Treat everything on this page as unverified until one is. How we grade evidence
Beyond these, 505 records are indexed. Browse the records